After several appeals to the Abia State Government to clear the arrears of their pensions and gratuities running into 10 months and 15 years respectively, the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has renewed its appeal to the government to consider the plight of its members and clear the backlog of pension arrears in the state.
The Union made the demand in a communiqué issued at the end of its emergency meeting in Umuahia, which was jointly signed by the state Chairman, Comrade Chukwuma Udensi, and Secretary, Elder O. C. Arungwa.
The union said the arrears range between four to 10 months from 2014 to 2015 and called on the government to make plans for the payment.
It lamented the situation where retired primary and secondary schools teachers and Local Government Service Staff were not paid their pensions for up to one year and over, after retirement, pointing out that in most cases, the arrears arising from such default were not easily processed and paid to the beneficiaries.
Similarly, the NUP also frowned at the non-payment of gratuities in the state in the past 15 years (2000-2015) and demanded immediate commencement of payment of gratuities even as it called on the government to settle the payment of the harmonised arrears compiled since 2004.
It also urged government to consider the immediate implementation of pension increases of 6 ½ per cent, 15 per cent and 53.4 per cent approved by the Salaries and Wages Commission.
The union also noted that the non-implementation of has made pensioners in the state the lowest paid in the country.
