Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has promised to review his position on the contentious pension arrears owed to retired civil servants in the state.
The governor made the commitment on Saturday while responding to an appeal from Rev. Ernest Onyukwu, who preached during the 80th birthday thanksgiving service of Senator Chris Adighije at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Chapel, Umuahia.
Rev. Onyukwu urged Governor Otti to reconsider his hard stance to the senior citizens affected by the arrears.
In his response, Otti acknowledged the concerns but claimed the leadership of pensioners resorted to blackmail despite previously signing a Memorandum of Agreement with the government to settle the accumulated backlog left by past administrations.
While the pensioners’ leadership revealed they signed the agreement under duress, the governor alleged that opposition politicians had incited them to misrepresent the situation and pressure his administration.
“I want to thank you for being honest. You can’t agree, and you come up and say you don’t agree. You can’t also sign and say you signed under duress as a senior citizen.
“I maintain that our senior citizens, our pensioners, are honest people. The problem is their leadership, and this has to do with association.
“When You say nobody was paid a pension in 2018, you are correct, but this leadership was part of the reason.
“Even when they were going into agreement with me, they probably didn’t believe there would be payment, and when I made the payment, they turned to say they didn’t sign, and that angered me.
“However, because you have said it, I will have a second look at it”.
Otti Moves To Review Pension Arrears Deal is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
Source: The Whistler
