Tony Anichebe 
Akwa Ibom State pensioners have appealed to the state Governor, Pastor Umo Eno to consider the establishment of a commission or board to oversee the administration of pensions, gratuities and other entitlements to retired teachers and Local Government Workers in the state.
According to the Senior citizens, “Such board of commission will be a big
relief from the burden of managing the affairs of the pensioners directly from his office considering the enormous task associated with it and in view of the implementation of the financial autonomy as approved by Supreme Court for Local glGovernment Councils.
Akwa Ibom slState Secretary of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Obong Comas Essien JP, who made the call at a press briefing in the state secretariat, Uyo, over the weekend recalled with dismay the non payment of salaries, gratuities and the inability of the third tier of government to manage funds that necessitated the obnoxious, but necessary option of forming a joint account for co-management of funds accruing to councils by the state for a proper management of pensions and salaries.
He noted that all the problems associated with the management of pensions arise from the fact that there’s no specific department or a legal entity in the state that handles pensioners’ affairs.
He highlighted, “As a result, the governor lacks adequate information about pension situation in the state. This lack of proper information accounts for accumulated non implementation of entitlements that brought about constant unrest among the different sectors of pensioners.
”To solve these problems, the union appeal to Governor Umo Eno to consider the establishment of Akwa Ibom State Pensions Board or Commission to oversee the administration of pensions, gratuities and other entitlements of retired workers in the state”.
He however poured encomiums and lavished praises on the governor for caring for the elderly, particularly in the area of accumulated gratuities to civil pensioners up to 2018, local government workers pension, about 2014 and retired primary school teachers, about 2012.
He also lauded the governor for the 20,000 and 15,000 added to all pensioners, noting that it has made life more meaningful to those he described as very low pension base of 1,000 up to 5,000 respectively.
Again, he appealed to the state governor to advise the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB to include the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, (NUP) in the committee for the payment of gratuities to retired primary school teachers and next of kin.
On the advantages, he said the board/Commission, if established, shall collate the problems of pensioners and relate to their departments and discuss on board and find solutions and treat them, while the governor will only receive a mono report, not multiple.
“Secondly, the pensioners will know where to seek redress and lodge their complains as there will be channels for effective communication and the old people will not demonstrate on the streets.
Thirdly, each department shall prepare it’s budget and take to the board in session for discussion and the board finally gathers information and prepare a common annual Budget for all pensioners in the state.
He maintned that the board could be mandated to negotiate with local government chairmen, the amount to be relinquish monthly for the payment if gratuities to these two sectors.
Finally, they lamented that the retired local government workers have not received the money that was released for gratuities since June, 2024 by the state governor, calling on the governor to wade in and restore in their lives.
