IMO PENSIONERS LAMENT OVER #20BN UNPAID ENTITLEMENTS

Reporter: CHINAZO ILECHUKWU

Pensioners in Imo State have cried out to the state government to pay them their pensions and other entitlements to ameliorate their sufferings.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) Imo State Council, Mr. Josiah Ugochukwu, made the appeal during a news conference in Owerri.

Mr. Ugochukwu accused the government of selective payment, noting that more than sixty percent of retirees had not received pensions since March 2020.

He wondered why pensioners, who were verified by the last administration but were not keyed into the system, had not been paid since August 2019.

The NUP State Chairman identified nonpayment of gratuities to some categories of retirees since 1998, non remittance of check-off-dues to the union and nonpayment of entitlements to next of kin of deceased pensioners, which has accumulated to over twenty billion naira, as some of the issues agitating their mind.

He lamented that efforts made by the union to persuade the government to meet the demands yielded no positive result and appealed to other relevant authorities to come to their rescue.

The pensioners expressed reservation with the automation process adopted by the government for payment of pensions and threatened to carry out a protest soon if their demands were not met.