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| Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha |
Scores of pensioners in IMO State, on Thursday, began a peaceful protest over the non-payment of pensions between 22 and 77 months by the government.
The aggrieved pensioners barricaded the Okigwe road as well as the entrance to Government House, Owerri.
Led by their state Chairman, Chief Gideon Ezeji, the pensioners called on the State Governor, Rochas Okorocha to elucidate what he did with the bailout fund the state received from the federal government.
They urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the State Governor Rochas Okorocha to order.
Ezeji said Okorocha “behaves and treats senior citizens in the state disrespectfully.
“Okorocha derives joy in seeing elders in this state come out from time to time to the streets to demand their pension.
“What did Okorocha do with the bailout fund that President Buhari gave to him? We are complaining for the third time.”
The aggrieved pensioners said it was wicked of Okorocha’s government to decide to pay 40 % of the accumulated arrears and gratuities whereas making them to forfeit 60% of their arrears.
“We say no to this latest government’s decide to deny us the payment of 60 % of arrears up to December.
“As at December 2016, the state is owing IMO pensioners between 22 months and 77 months arrears. Our gratuities have remained unpaid since 1998 until date.
“Also, the government has refused to harmonize our pensions since 2000 thus far. All the efforts by the union overseeing the welfare of pensioners haven't yielded any fruit”, they expressed.
Reacting to the allegation, the state government through the Chief Press Secretary to the State Governor, Sam Onwuemeodo said those who kicked off the protest weren't pensioners of the state.
A statement by Onwuemeodo reads partly: “No pensioner in the state was part of that protest.
“Those concerned in the exercise were between the ages of 40-45. and we challenge those concerned to prove us wrong by publishing their names, their autonomous communities, local government areas, years of retirement, wherever they retired from and their identification numbers.”
The aggrieved pensioners barricaded the Okigwe road as well as the entrance to Government House, Owerri.
Led by their state Chairman, Chief Gideon Ezeji, the pensioners called on the State Governor, Rochas Okorocha to elucidate what he did with the bailout fund the state received from the federal government.
They urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the State Governor Rochas Okorocha to order.
Ezeji said Okorocha “behaves and treats senior citizens in the state disrespectfully.
“Okorocha derives joy in seeing elders in this state come out from time to time to the streets to demand their pension.
“What did Okorocha do with the bailout fund that President Buhari gave to him? We are complaining for the third time.”
The aggrieved pensioners said it was wicked of Okorocha’s government to decide to pay 40 % of the accumulated arrears and gratuities whereas making them to forfeit 60% of their arrears.
“We say no to this latest government’s decide to deny us the payment of 60 % of arrears up to December.
“As at December 2016, the state is owing IMO pensioners between 22 months and 77 months arrears. Our gratuities have remained unpaid since 1998 until date.
“Also, the government has refused to harmonize our pensions since 2000 thus far. All the efforts by the union overseeing the welfare of pensioners haven't yielded any fruit”, they expressed.
Reacting to the allegation, the state government through the Chief Press Secretary to the State Governor, Sam Onwuemeodo said those who kicked off the protest weren't pensioners of the state.
A statement by Onwuemeodo reads partly: “No pensioner in the state was part of that protest.
“Those concerned in the exercise were between the ages of 40-45. and we challenge those concerned to prove us wrong by publishing their names, their autonomous communities, local government areas, years of retirement, wherever they retired from and their identification numbers.”
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