Abia state government owes pensioners over 40 months, 20 years gratuities Despite billions in revenue.
THE Abia State Government owes more than 40 months in pensions and over 20 years in gratuities to all categories of retirees in the state, a report by The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (The ICIR) has shown.
Published on Saturday, March 11, the report highlighted the various struggles and pains some of the hapless retirees have continued to go through due to the refusal of successive governments to pay monies due to them.
One of the retirees, Dickson Onyemeta, narrated to The ICIR how his plan to set up a commercial poultry farm had failed because the state government refused to pay his gratuity when he retired in 2006.
Onyemeta had hoped to use the farm proceeds to cater for himself and his family. The 70-year-old man said feeding and catering for his family had become a nightmare he had never anticipated when he left the service of the state.
Several other retirees interviewed shared testimonies of lack, pain, poverty and rejection they have been subjected to because of the non-payment of their entitlements.
Various sources interviewed, including the leader of one of the pension unions in the state, confirmed that the government has not paid gratuity since 2022.
This is despite several billions of naira received and generated by various successive governments since the country returned to democracy more than 22 years ago.
For instance, in the last seven years, the current Okezie Ikpeazu-led state government has received more than N321 billion in Federal Allocation (FAAC).
The ICIR data hub also showed that more than N107 billion has been generated in internal revenues by the state in the same period. Like most states in the country, Abia has enjoyed a bailout from the Federal Government, including N14.2 billion in intervention funds by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016.
