Pensioners in Abia State have renewed their demand for the payment of outstanding pension arrears and gratuities, insisting that they will not give up their legitimate entitlements.
The pensioners, under the aegis of the Abia Pensioners’ Forum, made their position known while addressing journalists in Umuahia, where they expressed dissatisfaction over what they described as the continued delay in resolving issues surrounding their retirement benefits.
The forum’s Coordinator, Okey Kanu, accused the state government of failing to fully implement what the pensioners said were promises made during Governor Alex Otti’s campaign regarding the settlement of outstanding pension and gratuity arrears.
The pensioners’ position centres on a Memorandum of Agreement reportedly reached between the Abia State Government and the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) concerning the payment of inherited pension arrears.
The forum has disputed the terms of the agreement, particularly the alleged forfeiture of portions of pension arrears and gratuities. Kanu argued that individual pensioners did not authorise anyone to waive their statutory retirement benefits on their behalf.
The group also questioned the basis for the government’s earlier claim that inherited pension arrears had been cleared, maintaining that payments made to some retirees represented only part of the amounts they were owed.
Reports from 2024 indicated that the Abia Government said it had spent more than N9 billion from funds earmarked to settle accumulated pension arrears, with payments made to thousands of state and local government pensioners. However, the Abia Pensioners’ Forum maintained that significant balances, particularly gratuities, remained unpaid.
The forum further recalled that some pensioners had accumulated several months of unpaid pensions, while gratuity payments had also remained outstanding for years. Kanu said the retirees would accept payment of the outstanding benefits in instalments if the government could not settle the liabilities at once.
The pensioners appealed to Governor Otti to revisit the disputed agreement and engage directly with affected retirees to resolve the outstanding issues.
They also called for transparency in the calculation and payment of pension arrears, insisting that retirees who served the state for decades should not be deprived of their earned benefits.
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