The National President of the National Union of Pensioners (NUP) has appealed to Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma to pay retirees in the state their pension arrears amounting to N56.4 billion.
The Uzodimma administration is said to have inherited the debt from the Rochas Okorocha government.
And the pensioners have been locked in a bitter battle with the state government following its failure to pay the retirees
The National President of the NUP, Abel Afolayan, who made the appeal on behalf of the pensioners during his recent visit to the governor at Government House, Owerri, lamented the plight of the senior citizens.
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Afolayan, accompanied by members of the union’s chiefs in the South East, said the pensioners needed the money to solve their financial problems.
According to him, some of the retirees are suffering from various health ailments and lack money to pay medical bills.
He said the retirees should not be allowed to suffer because they were part of the contributory pensions scheme.
Afolayan lamented that some of the senior citizens died without enjoying the fruits of their labour.
He assured the governor of the support of the union and retirees for his administration.
Uzodimma decried the fraudulent practices that marred salary and pension payment in previous administrations, saying his government had been trying to deliver corruption-free salary and pension payment.
He urged the retirees to be patient with his administration, promising to pay them.
Uzodimma said: “By the time we took over office, we found out that pensioners and salary payroll were highly manipulated. It became a conduit for looting our resources with fake names as a result of this ugly trend, so we embarked on a verification exercise and we were able to sanitise the system and still on it.”
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