Lorine Emenike
As the issue of pensions payment in Rivers State lingers, unresolved as various categories of pensioners and retirees from the Rivers state civil services continue protests and forms of agitation in the state, Pensioners under the 2012 to 2015 have staged a peaceful walk within the Secretariat over the nonpayment of initial pension arrears since 2012 to date.
Some of the retirees told TPCN, that though the government had recently put them on monthly pension allowance but had allegedly refused to pay the accumulated pension arrears for three years.
Mrs. Iyonaba Idominabo a pensioner (retired from state civil service) said ” I retired in 2012. We have different issues in this pension payment. My own issue is balance payment from 2011 to 2013 batch those of us that retired that time are short paid”
Continuing, She said “as I am standing here every month I am being short paid #80,000 NAIRA so if you calculate #80,000 every month from 2012 to date? that’s what Rivers state is owing me”
On his part, retired Dr Chizoba Gbam said “I retired in April 2015. When you retire and your papers are being processed the number of years it takes government to process the papers is supposed to be given to you as initial payment. That’s what we call accumulated arrears or initial payments. Some of us are been owed 15 months some 30 months’ others 70,80 months and when the governor decided he wants to pay instead of giving us that initial payment in bulk, he gave everybody one, one month! And went ahead to announce that he has paid pensioners, we expected that he would pay the balance in due time up till now nothing.
“A good number of us have died, most of us are facing serious challenges, I had to go to the school where my twin daughters are writing WAEC EXAMS to write an undertaking to make their school payments. With this present monthly pension allowance, I can’t meet up with such demands and still provide food and shelter for my family”
The 2012 to 2015 retirees also pleaded with the state government to find a way to pay the pension arrears in batches to enable them meet with financial obligations.
Dr CHIZOBA GBAM said “we are not talking of gratuity here; we are talking of pension arrears. If someone who is owed 11million is given that money, he or she can start a business with such money and sustain his family. The governor is always talking about projects only, I don’t know if these projects are for human beings or dead people, we are using this medium to appeal to public spirited individuals to appeal to the governor to look into issues of senior citizens of the state who had served the state for 35 years”
On his part, Mr. ISAAC ULANG said “pensioners in this state are in bad condition. Our government have refused to pay us our pension arrears up till now. Our Gratuities have not been paid and most of our ex colleagues have died, few of us who are living have to continue to shout.
” We want to appeal to the GOVERNOR EVEN IF ITS NOT ONCE TO RELEASE THE MONEY IN BATCHES. My suggestion to the governor is that if the total amount accruable to the pensioners cannot be paid in bulk or once, the governor can make the payments in 2 or 3 installment so that senior citizens of the state can take care of themselves”
