Pay Us Now We’re Alive, Not When We Die – Pensioners Tell Soludo

Some retirees in Anambra State have protested the nonpayment of their gratuities by the state government for four years.

They, therefore, asked Governor Chukwuma Soludo to pay the backlog of their gratuities which had accrued since 2019.

The angry retirees said it was the Administration of the former governor of the state that owed them the gratuities, but since government is a continuum, that Governor Soludo should clear such arrears.

One of them who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “Pay us now that we are alive. “Is it when we die that others will collect what we worked for? Our gratuities are our rights.

Another retiree, who gave her name as Chikodi Ezeogu said,” To be fair to Governor Soludo,he has been paying pension and gratuities religiously since he assumed office on March 17, 2021. He is not owing anybody in that respect within the period since he was sworn in as governor.

“In fact, he pays pensioners before even the regular workers. Since Soludo became governor, any worker that retires gets his gratuity within a month or two months. The same thing as pension. Every retiree in the state receives his or her pension from 25th of every month or earlier in some months.

“Our governor is doing well in that regard and we will continue to pray for more God’s Grace and blessings for him and his family for that.

” The gratuities we are talking about were owed by former Governor Willie Obiano. He messed up the system of regular payment of such benefits he inherited from former Governor Peter Obi. Obi was not owing anybody any Kobo when he was governor and by the time he left. We didn’t know what Obiano did with our money. He was so wasteful during his reign.

“So, the gratuities we are talking about are those owed by the state from 2018, 2019,2020 to 2021 before Governor Soludo assumed office Ezeogu said.

Recall that on assumption to office on March 17,2021, Soludo said he met about N300 to N400 million in the state treasury but inherited about N109 billion debt when he assumed office.