Accommodate interest of pensioners in your pay-roll – Abia NUP tells Ikpeazu
The Abia State Council of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) have called on the State Government to religiously apply the law of equity in disbursing whatever funds available to it in order to accommodate the interest of pensioners in its pay-roll.
The Council took special note and expressed sadness over the pitiable condition of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) pensioners who have not been paid any pension for over twenty-five months now and passionately pleaded with the government to treat the ABSUTH case as a matter of serious concern and figure out some palliative measures to ameliorate the condition there.
In a communiqué jointly signed by the State Chairman Comrade Chukwuma N. Udensi and Secretary Elder O.C. Arungwa and issued to newsmen in Umuahia at the end of its meeting held at Nwannedinamba hall, the Council in session commended the National headquarters of the Union for the World Press conference held on 7th September 2016 which highlighted the very sorry plight of Nigerian pensioners who have for long been neglected and subjected to dehumanizing conditions.
The Council however, called on the National Executive Council of the Union in collaboration with the Nigeria Labour Congress to take further practical actions to get the Federal, State and Local Governments to seriously and effectively address all issues of pension and gratuities in the country.
While appreciating the very unfavourable economic and political conditions under which the present Abia State Government has been operating, the council observed with dismay, the discriminatory manner in which the Government pays salaries and pensions, noting that while some sectors on the government pay-roll have been paid up to June 2016, retired civil servants and retired secondary school teachers are just being paid their pensions for March, 2016.
The Council in session which pointed out that these group of pensioners are still owed pensions from January to April, 2015, however commended the Local Government Pensions Board for paying pensions up to April, 2016 to Local Government pensioners and retired primary school teachers and urged the Board to keep it up.
The Council decried the situation where gratuities to retirees in the state have stood in arrears since 1999 and called on the government to take necessary steps to start clearing the back log of gratuities arrears.
The council called on all banks handling the payment of pensions in the state to always properly indicate the month for which payment is made in the alerts sent to their clients for ease of reconciliation. The council also urged the banks to ensure prompt payment to pensioners as soon as the government releases funds to them.
