Pensioners urge Delta Government to secure loan to pay arrears

The Association of Contributory Pensioners (ACP), Delta Chapter, has appealed to Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa to secure N10 billion from the Federal Government Support Funds to settle their pension arrears.

The association’s spokesman, Mr Gabriel Aduwa made the appeal at a news conference on Saturday in Agbor.

Aduwa said that over 200 members of the association had not been paid their pension for more than five years.

He urged the governor to urgently look into the plight of the retirees, adding that some of them had died as a result of hunger.

According to Aduwa, the retirees in the state have vowed to go on hunger strike over government refusal to pay their pension arrears.

The accumulated pension of retirees of the state workers for the period of April 2007 to December 2015 was over N18 billion.

We urged Okowa to obtain N10 billion from the Federal Government support bailout fund to pay our retirement benefits,’’ he said.