By Alice Etuka, Abuja
The Abia State Government has announced the payment of pension arrears of its civil servants to the tune of N9bn.
Abia State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Mike Akpara disclosed this on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, in Umuahia
He explained that the whole pension was paid as agreed with the Nigerian Union of Pensioners in the state:
“We had an agreement with the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, and to what we agreed, His Excellency (Alex Otti) did exactly what we agreed. The agreement is to pay the arrears of pensions, and that’s exactly what the government has done, and they are happy about that.
“Everybody knows that things are hard. So, for a government to even own up and do what others have not done even in the past, it needs applause. Some people got up to N8m, individuals, so it’s not a mean thing”, he said.
On his part, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma, said the payments were verifiable, adding that the calculations were properly done and the negotiations with the leadership of the pensioners happened without hitches:
“We took it to the extreme and, indeed, the governor had mentioned 2014 but from the information I have gathered, we even went beyond 2014 because there were some persons that were owed pension arrears before 2014 that we also cleared. It is not on an equal basis.
“The Commissioner for Finance and the Accountant General are already collating names of those who are having issues, and all those issues are going to be resolved,” he said.
