By FRANCIS IGATA

ENUGU—OVER 2000 primary school teachers who have retired in Enugu State in the last 13 years are yet to be paid their gratuities. The Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Enugu State chapter which made this known in Enugu, also expressed displeasure over the failure of the state government to settle deceased teachers’ entitlements over the years.

Paul-Nnaji-Enugu-NUT-Chairm

The state Chairman of the NUT, Mr Paul Nnaji told South East Voice, in an interview that families of deceased teachers were being owed over N90 million by the government.

Expressing displeasure over the failure to pay retired teachers their gratuities, Nnaji lamented that the union had on several occasions suggested that government should set up a committee to deal with the problem of non-payment of gratuities to no avail.

He said:”we have two categories of teachers in the state. Those who retired before the harmonized salary structure and those that retired when the Teachers Enhancement Allowance, TEA, was in place. “However, the state government paid gratuity to primary school teachers in the state last in 2002. The other batch was last paid gratuity in 2004.

Between these two categories, pensions are not regular either as the government alternates their pensions payment.

“This group will be paid this month while the other waits for its turn next month. There is delay also in the payment of pensions at the point of retirement. The delay in processing of documents before the teacher starts receiving their pension is enormous (takes over two years).

“We have made representations to the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board, ENSUBEB, to facilitate the payment. We are yet to see the results. The major problem is that local government councils in Enugu State have failed to remit their 10 percent of funds for the payment of teachers gratuity.

“The idea of establishing a Pension Pursue which we suggested has not been implemented. This is coupled with the fact that the Enugu State civil servant are yet to key into the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS. “As at the last time we checked, over N90 million was being owed to deceased teachers in the state. We have equally gone to the Pension Board to complain.

“We are wondering what miracle Anambra State government employed in the payment of its teachers’ gratuities. This problem has been left for the incoming administration and this would be enormous.

Deceased teacher’s son lament

Chinedu Ogbe,27,from Aku, Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area regretted that his mother died while waiting for her gratuity. According to him,”My mother became terminally ill soon after her retirement. We could not cope with the financial encumbrances because her gratuity and pensions were not forthcoming. I believe she could have been alive if we had the financial muscle to shoulder the medical expenses.”