Retirees from Abia Newspapers, Broadcasting Corporation of Abia (BCA), Council of Arts and Culture, and the Abia state Housing and Property Development Corporation, have made a passionate appeal to the Abia state Governor Dr. Alex Otti(OFR), to pay their more than 13 months’ pension arrears.
The four Abia state parastatals in a letter entitled “A Reminder On Our Earlier Passionate Appeal To Your Excellency To Pay More Than 13 Months Of Pension Arrears Owed By Your Administration To Us (Pensioners Of Parastatals) In The State,” addressed to Governor Otti through his Chief of Staff, and made available to SummitNews, referred the governor to the above outstanding payment when “you began to pay our pensions in January 2025.”
The letter written under the banner of Joint Action Committee reads: “We wish to once more humbly remind you of the cogent reasons why it becomes urgent and critical for you to settle these pension arrears.
“Firstly, is the fact that in more than 13 months owed to pensioners of parastatals had exposed them to the following challenges:
“1.Most of them have lost their accommodation as they could not pay rent for more than one year. They have also been unable to pay school fees of their wards which had been in arrears due to non-payment of these pensioners for more than one year.
“2.Again, those of them with serious health challenges cannot effectively maintain themselves in view of the prohibitive cost of medication, compounded by the terrible economy of the nation.
“3.Perhaps the most obvious is the fact that many of the pensioners, if not all, were borrowing money to survive during the time they were being owed.
“While we appreciate Your Excellency’s effort in paying us promptly since January 2025, we wish to draw Your Excellency’s attention to the fact that some of the pensioners have been skipped in the on-going payments since January, 2025.
“It is sad to note that the following number of people in various parastatals have not received their pensions since January 2025, even though they were duly verified:
1.The BCA-19
2.The Abia Newspapers-5
3.The Council for Arts and Culture-6
4.The Housing and Property Development Corporation -9
5.The Umuahia Capital Development Authority (UCDA) -16.
The letter signed by Comrade Chinkwe Ikenyi, and Chief Ikoro John Ikoro, chairman and secretary respectively continued:-
“We are optimistic that Your Excellency would cause the Accountant General (AG) to ensure that these people who have been left out in the payment of pensions would be accommodated during the clearing of our pensions arrears.
“While we commend your efforts in substantially paying pensioners of Ministries their arrears, we look forward to your also clearing our pension arrears in order to be on a par with them, thereby giving us a sense of belonging in the New Abia.
“Finally, we look forward to your paying us our gratuities now that you have promised to look into paying of gratuities of pensioners in the state.
“As usual we assure you of our support and cooperation in ensuring the realization of your grand vision of a New Abia where nobody would be oppressed and life in abundance.
“We look forward to your rescue.”
