Niger Delta
Retirees Drags Cross River State Government To Industrial Court Over Non-Payment Of Gratuity
Top ranking retired civil servants in Cross River State, including permanent secretaries, have allegedly concluded arrangements to drag
the State government and the Accountant General to National Industrial Court in Calabar for refusing to pay them their gratuities since 2014.
Our correspondent gathered that some retirees have not been paid since 2014, the development which has prompted many of them to be embarking on peaceful protests occasionally to Governor’s office, but protests yielded no result.
It would be recalled that late last year, a twenty-six-year-old man, Mr. Joseph Odey, also staged a one-man protest with a placard, ‘Your Excellency please pay gratuity, my family is distressed,’ He had told newsmen that his late father put in 32 years of faithful service to the state and died as a school principal a few months before he was due for retirement.
On the planned litigation, a retired permanent secretary, who spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity, said the court case was the last option since all entreaties and protests have failed, submitting that they were waiting for their legal adviser and solicitor to commence action.
He also alleged that some staff in the Accountant General’s office were demanding gratification of about N200,000 to facilitate payment of gratuities.
But the Accountant General, Joseph Adie, in a chat, described as untrue the allegations that officers in charge of processing documents were asking each retiree to cough out a whooping N200,000 before such papers could be processed.
He said, “well, I want to assure Cross Riverians that nobody have told me that there is demand on pensioners to pay anything before they get paid. My office here is not aware of such demand.
“It is a grievous matter to ask a retirees and pensioners to begin to pay monies for their gratuities or whatever. It is an act of wickedness. In a situation like this, I must confess to you that I am not aware of that type of demand from anywhere, and I will be the last person to be a partaker. As we speak, we have cleared 2013,” he said.
Explaining what could have caused the delay in payment, Adie, a Chartered Accountant, said “the highest allocation that came to the State was N3 billion and that at times, the State would receive as paltry as N1.1 billion and N1 billion respectively”, but added that “even States with highest allocations were also finding it hard to pay as at when due.”
“I am sure you will be surprise that even those States that have the highest allocation owe pensions. Some of them are not even making effort to pay, but we have tried. We are paying, in fact at a point, we were setting aside N200million every month for payment of gratuities.
On why some persons who retired between 2016 and 2017 had gotten their gratuities paid while those in 2015 and 2016 were yet to be paid, the AG said it was an express order from the Governor of the State that some persons with critical health issues in that batch be paid.
“You know some people have health issues like spinal cord problem. Yes in cases like this, I get my special approval from the governor that such people be paid. They are only two on the line now but if he approves and there are no funds, we still have to pray but the truth is that such are considered as special cases,” he stressed.
From FRIDAY NWAGBARA, Calabar.
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Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, has reiterated his administration’s commitment towards actualising the Ibom Deep Seaport project
This is contained in a statement by the Information Commissioner, Dr. Aniekan Umanah, in Uyo on Saturday.
The statement disclosed that Eno made the expression at a high-level technical engagement and working session with Africa Global Logistics Group in Paris, France.
According to the statement, the session reviewed the recently submitted technical feasibility report prepared by Worley Parsons.
It also examined the critical pathways for investment, project implementation, and long-term sustainability.
During the engagement, Eno emphasised the need to accelerate project delivery, and called for clear timelines, milestones, and actionable steps for project implementation.
He said the state government was committed to working effectively with other partners to achieve the deep seaport initiative.
He described the project as a landmark blue economy initiative with the potential to position Akwa Ibom as a leading maritime, trade, and logistics hub in the Gulf of Guinea.
The International Working Group (IWG), a non-governmental organisation on Petroleum Pollution and Just Transition in the Niger Delta, has described as highly traumatizing the impact of oil pollution on the environment and health of the people of Bayelsa State.
The NGO, which is currently carrying out a sensitisation campaign on health hazards associated with oil pollution in the state, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the State Governor, Douye Diri, in Government House, Yenagoa.
Speaking through its team lead, Professor Engobo Emeseh, the group expressed concern that average life expectancy in the state has reduced significantly, saying that the citizens and others living in the State are forced to live on contaminated land, air and water.
Professor Engobo, who is of the Law Faculty of Aberyswhyth University, UK, clarified that the IWG was focusing advocacy on the health of the people in line with the recommendations of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission Report, which was submitted in 2023.
She disclosed that laboratory analysis of blood samples taken from indigenes from across the eight LGAs in the State indicated very high levels of hydrocarbon pollution and carcinogenic metals, causing a sharp increase in mortality and morbid rates in the state.
The academics, who commended the State Government for being the first subnational government in Nigeria to set up a high-powered Commission on oil and environment, said the Group would continue to partner the state and other relevant organizations to mitigate the negative impact of oil pollution on the health of the people.
“Most of us here were constituted as members of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission. We gave our report in 2023; first presented at the House of Lords, and also presented to the Bayelsa State Government here in Creek Haven in October 2024, and then presented to the wider public in Abuja.
“In all of this, the Bayelsa State Government had given us the space and the support to provide our expertise and advice on how to deal with the challenge of the scourge of oil pollution in our state.
“My colleagues and I, who were members of the expert working group, were quite traumatized at what we found in Bayelsa State, and we called our report an environmental genocide.
“Based on that, we committed that even though our commission was de-commissioned in November 2024, we were going to carry on with this work”, she added.
In his response, Diri, represented by his Deputy, Dr. Peter Akpe, described the report of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission as one of the most important documents to guide concerted actions in the mitigation of environmental hazards from oil pollution in the state.
He thanked members of the International Working Group for partnering the State Government by making their expertise available to ongoing efforts towards mitigating the impact of oil pollution on the health of Bayelsans.
While calling on the Federal Government and international organizations to treat the issue of oil pollution in Bayelsa as a special case, he assured the IWG of his administration’s support towards environmental remediation and improved healthcare delivery in the state.
“Your visit is very significant. It is to buttress and consolidate the partnership that began with the Bayelsa Oil and Environment Commission. We are happy that the relationship is matured to this kind of sustained international platform of advocacy.
“We recall the presentation His Excellency, the Governor made, in New York. We travelled from Bayelsa to New York because of the importance we attached to the Commission and all your activities.
“The Commission’s report remains one of our important documents, especially concerning environmental condition of our state and the wider Niger Delta. For us, it is not a closed chapter, it is a living document whose recommendations must continue to guide concrete actions.
“We can’t thank you enough for what you are doing already. We welcome your planned health research, interactions and engagements in the state. And we assure you that we are totally in support and we equally expect to see positive results from your work”, the Governor said.
Members of the six-man IWG delegation include Dr. Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou, representing ODI Global UK; Prof. Michael Watts of University of California; and Dr. Isaac Osuoka of York University, Canada.
Others are Prof. Anna Zalik, also from the York University, Canada, and Dr. Cautlin Strong of the ODI Global, United Kingdom.
By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
The Nigeria Police Force in Akwa Ibom State says it has arrested a suspected fraudster and Cultists accused of impersonating the State Commissioner for Finance, Emem Bob, and four men connected to the theft of renovation materials from a federal government college.
The police said the arrests followed separate intelligence-led operations across parts of the state as the command intensified its crackdown on cultism, cybercrime, vandalism and armed robbery.
The police spokesperson in the state, Timfon John, a Deputy Superintendent of police, disclosed the arrest in a statement issued on Saturday.
According to the statement, operatives arrested four suspects over the alleged theft of burglary proof materials meant for the renovation of hostel blocks in a federal government college in the state.
The arrested suspects are David Ukpe, a security guard attached to the school; Emmanuel Johnny, Murtala Muhammad, and Sani Abubakar.
The police said the suspects were arrested after the school’s Chief Security Officer reported the theft on 21st May, 2026.
“The stolen items, mainly burglary proofs meant for the ongoing renovation of hostel blocks within the institution, were carefully removed from where they had been secured for the Federal Government-backed project”, the statement said.
The police preliminary investigations indicated that the suspects conspired to steal and sell the materials for personal gain.
According to the statement, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Baba Azare, described the act as “a direct sabotage of government developmental efforts and a gross betrayal of public trust.”
Also, in another operation, police arrested a suspect, Imeobong Akpan, for allegedly impersonating the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Finance, Emem Bob, on social media platforms.
The suspect, who is native of Ikot Ekpene Udo Village in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area, was arrested after a complaint was lodged with the police on May 22 alleging that an individual had been using the commissioner’s identity and photographs on fake social media accounts to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
The statement said police detectives later tracked and arrested the suspect in the Ewet Housing Estate area of Uyo.
According to the police, the suspect allegedly created fake WhatsApp and Facebook accounts using the commissioner’s identity and used them to lure job seekers, particularly young women, with false promises of securing government jobs.
The police said the suspect confessed to impersonating the commissioner and posing as his personal assistant.
“He also confessed to luring over 10 ladies to hotels under false promises of securing government jobs and obtaining money from victims through deceitful means”, the statement added.
Police recovered a mobile phone and other electronic devices from the suspect, which are undergoing forensic analysis.
Further more, the police also announced the arrest of two suspected cultists and armed robbers in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area.
The suspects, identified as Iniobong Albert, a Higher National Diploma 1 Civil Engineering student of Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, and Daniel Akpan, were arrested on May 22 , while riding a QLINK motorcycle.
According to the police, operatives recovered a locally made shotgun, two live cartridges, a suspected protective charm, an Android phone, a cross bag and the motorcycle.
The police said Mr. Albert allegedly confessed to being a member of the proscribed Ku Klux Klans (KKK) Confraternity and admitted that they were on an unlawful mission before their arrest.
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