Abia Pensioners Cry Out Over Unpaid Arrears

Members of the Nige
rian Union of Pensioners (NUP) in Abia State have cried out to the state government over their unpaid pension arrears.
Speaking to newsmen in Umuahia on Wednesday, the State Chairman of the Union, Chukwuma Udensi said that there were vexatious issues of non payment of gratuities which had lingered for over 15 years in Abia State.
Udensi said that Abia pensioners were yet to witness a fulfillment of their expectation of the pension payment from April 2016 till date.
He said that the non payment had inflicted untold hardship and suffering on pensioners in Abia State for the past months stressing that despite the prevailing harsh economic condition pensioners are allowed to suffer while some sectors on government payroll had received their salaries and pensioners excluded.
The NUP boss said that pensioners in Abia State were owed arrears ranging from four to ten months between 2014 and 2015, stressing that pensioners deserve a better treatment and recognition by successive governments.
He said that the union issues with the Abia State government ranged from the non implementation of various Federal Government pension increases and harmonization of the five years arrears of monthly pension owed retired primary school teachers in Abia State from 2002 to 2007 as well as the pitiable plight of pensioners of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba, not paid for over two years.
He appealed to the state government to accommodate the interest of pensioners in the priority disbursement of resources and funds.
The NUP boss urged the Abia State government to set up a committee to work with the union to clear the arrears.