Abia Pensioners Decry Short Payment, Delay In Gratuity Disbursement, Demand Transparency

UMUAHIA — The Abia Pensioners’ Forum has decried alleged short payment and delay in the ongoing gratuity payment by the Abia State Government, urging Governor Alex Otti to show empathy and ensure transparency.

In a press release signed by its Coordinator, Okey Kanu, and Secretary, Comrade Emma Onyenyiri, the Forum said it is a pressure group under the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Abia State Council, with hundreds of members.

The Forum recalled that Governor Otti in his campaigns in 2015, 2019 and 2023 promised to clear arrears of pension and gratuity owed by previous administrations, a promise that attracted massive votes from pensioners and their families.

It said on assumption of office, the governor promised to clear the arrears before end of December 2023, but the promise suffered postponements leading to a Memorandum of Agreement where pensioners were said to have waived their arrears.

The Forum said following outcry, the governor on February 22, 2025, promised to revisit the agreement, but in his Media Chat in September 2025, claimed the revisit was for gratuity only as no pensioner was owed pension arrears — a claim the Forum described as a shocker and had challenged government to set up a Judicial Panel of Inquiry.

While thanking the governor for summoning political will to commence gratuity payment starting with those who retired between 2001 and 2010, the Forum raised concerns about implementation.

According to the release, information from beneficiaries shows that more than half of those in the batch have not been paid after one month of commencement, while the half that have been paid received lesser amounts than entitled, with some shortfalls exceeding N100,000.

It also said the Desk Office established to receive complaints is not functional, leaving elderly pensioners tossed between Office of Head of Service and State Accountant-General.

The Forum urged government to be transparent by publishing names of beneficiaries in each batch and amount payable as contained in their Authorisation Letters.

It also faulted statements credited to the Commissioner for Information that disbursement would be in tranches and gradual with priority to oldest arrears, questioning whether the N10 billion earmarked for 2001-2010 batch is not enough, and why payments cannot be made at once as the governor said in July 2026 the money was “sitting” in the bank.

The Forum further condemned stretching gratuity payment to 2031, saying it amounts to reluctance to pay, erodes value, and may deny many pensioners who may not live to receive it due to inability to feed and buy medication.

It cited improved federal allocation after fuel subsidy removal, recalling that then Anambra Governor Peter Obi paid N32 billion at once in 2007, and quoted Otti’s own 2018 Open Letter to former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu where he lamented unpaid pensions causing avoidable deaths.

The Forum reminded the governor of Biblical and Quranic injunctions he quoted in that letter, including “the labourer is worthy of his wages” and “pay the labourer his wages before his sweat dries up,” urging him to have mercy and show humanity to pensioners who endured years of denial.