By Chidi Nkwopara, OWERRI.

FOR some weeks now, the corporate image of Imo State has been in the news, because of the poor treatment meted out to hapless, helpless and ailing pensioners, by the state government.

It is no longer news that Imo pensioners are owed varying sums of arrears. It is also true that the arrears are due to varying months of unpaid pension. It is also a fact that pensioners gratuities have remained largely unattended for years.

Stories have equally been told of how several senior citizens have died without collecting their pension and gratuity. There are many retirees that are completely unable to take care of their medical and domestic bills.

From L-R: Elder Eugene U. Emeziem; •Elder Nicholas Okoro;•Comrade Chidi Madu & •Madam Helen O. Nwokoro

Imo citizens can vividly remember that the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, His Grace, Dr. Anthony J. V. Obinna, came under Governor Rochas Okorocha’s fire because he prayed God, at a public function, to soften the heart of the Governor and make him pay pension and salaries.

The prayer attracted thunderous applause from the citizenry, who were at the function, but the Governor did not find it funny. Okorocha ended up accusing the Archbishop of “saying inciting prayers, as well as playing partisan politics”.

Careful inquirer

Today, the Imo State Government has not only proposed to pay only 40 percent of a fraction of all the months owed pensioners, but has gone ahead to print a document which all retirees must sign before getting any payment.

The first question that strikes a careful observer is whether the pensioners have a right to make the claims they are making.

Section 210 (1) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) states that “subject to the provision Sub-Section (2) of this Section, the right of a person to receive pension or gratuity shall be regulated by law,” it states.

“Any benefit to which a person is entitled in accordance with or under such law, as is referred to in Sub-Section (1) of this Section, shall not be withheld or altered to his disadvantage, except to such extent as is permissible under any law, including the Code of Conduct.

“Pension shall be reviewed every five years, or together with any State Civil Service salary review, whichever is earlier.

“Pension in respect to service in the service of a state, shall not be taxed”.

Armed with the foregoing, Vanguard sought the views of some retirees from the Governor’s Ideato home and Mbaise axis. The outcome is what you are about to read now.

Chief Ndubuizu Ugorji

Although Chief Ndubuizu Ugorji said he was in his Ideato country home when Vanguard contacted him on his mobile line, he pleaded to be allowed to send his reaction through a text message.

“The controversial pension payment arrangement, designed by Imo State Government, will not stand. From the Governor’s broadcast and statement by the Commissioner for Information, I presume that at that level, they are not aware of certain wicked propositions contained in the said arrangement.

“I am, for instance, owed 36 months pension arrears. I am asked to sign that I am owed only eight months, so that I would be paid 40 percent of eight months.

“Doesn’t it sound outrageous? My Governor cannot be privy to this outrage. It can only be the act of those charged with the implementation.

“Government should resume dialogue with pensioners to find a way out of this quagmire. Let me use this opportunity to advice government to identify pensioners who would be willing to embrace agriculture, allocate land to them in lieu of gratuity, provide inputs and technical know-how under this package.

“This will boost agriculture and deal with the payment of gratuities. Huge sum of pension arrears could also be settled through a similar package. “On the other hand, Imo pensioners should form a political pressure group to charge those angling for public office in 2019, to declare their pension policy.”, it read.

Elder Eugene U. Emeziem

Getting this near 80-year old retired primary school teacher in his Life, Ahiara, Ahiazu Mbaise local government area country home, to speak on his plight, was not easy, but when the elder eventually opened up, he started this way:

“There is no Governor that has wounded my spirit like this Governor Rochas Okorocha. He is owing me 39 months of unpaid pension, but included in his obnoxious form that he is owing me 14 months and would only pay 40 percent of this 14 months. Okorocha has sent many of us to their untimely graves. I have a heart condition and I can’t even buy simple paracetamol for myself,” Emeziem lamented.

Continuing, Emeziem said: “Pensioners and their dependants are passing through unbearable pain and hardship due to unpaid pensions. Up till date, we have not been paid our outstanding pension arrears for April 2013. We have not been paid our pension arrears of November and December 2013.

Unbearable pain and hardship

“The governor cannot claim ignorance that not a kobo was paid to us throughout 2014. The same is also true of January, February and March 2015. The sordid tale is endless.

“The Governor must be told in clear terms that pension for retired teachers is not a privilege but our constitutional right. We served the nation for 35 meritorious years, when we were full of vim and vigour. Today, we are all frail, hungry and incapable of sustaining any physical battle.

“Okorocha should remember that this humiliating treatment meted out to credible mission trained teachers, who are old enough to be his father and mother, is most insulting and humiliating. Today, these retired teachers are sorrowful and are murmuring, unable to pay their utility bills, community levies nor buy from the markets due to lack of money.

“Since the introduction of minimum wage in Nigeria, retirees are not financially harmonized. I urge Governor Rochas Okorocha to read Sirach 3:5-9. I have had to sign the deadly Okorocha’s form under duress, due to the present hardship. Since I signed that form and handed it over to government agents, I have not set my eyes on it again and I have equally not been paid. Is this the best way to treat pensioners?”

80-year old Nicholas Okoro speaks

I am a native of Lude, Ahiara in Ahiazu Mbaise local government area of Imo State. I taught at Central School, Ogbe Ahiara and retired from there. I have not been paid my gratuity and I have lost count of the several months owed me as pension.

Only two of my children are alive today. They don’t have jobs. I have nobody to plead my cause. The Governor should remember that there is God and He sees everything, especially how pensioners are being treated today in Imo. I won’t be surprised if Okorocha and his praise singers decide to yank off my name from the pensioners payroll, because of this press interview”.

Madam Helen O. Nwokoro

I retired in 2008. If you add December 2016, which has successfully rolled to an end, government would be owing me for three years and a month.

I am a childless widow. If not for my relations, I would have become history long ago. They are the ones taking care of me.

I have had to sign the obnoxious form because I don’t have anybody to fight for me. It is sad that instead of the 37 months, government simply wrote that I am only entitled to 14 months. The most painful aspect is that government says that I am only entitled to 40 percent of the 14 months. This is sheer wickedness.

Government has not paid me a dime since I signed that form. I was not allowed to read the document. I was just shown where to sign and I signed, submitted the form and left the scene.

I am aware that some pensioners decided to sign the form because they wanted some money to take care of their medical and food bills.

I am even diabetic and can’t take care of my medical bills. My elder brother, also a retired teacher died without getting his pension and gratuity.

Comrade Chidi Madu

I retired from Imo Broadcasting Corporation, IBC, Owerri in January 2008. I am, by the special grace of God, the leader of IBC pensioners. I am owed for 34 months and for my colleagues who were unable to collect their three months pension in November 2015, they are also owed for 36 months.“

IBC pensioners who are currently abroad for whatever reason, have been removed from the payroll, despite representation by their next of kin.

It has been very, very difficult for Imo pensioners. There is no capital to start any business. Payment of gratuity has remained a mirage. We now depend on the goodwill of friends and relations.

Our children have graduated but have sadly remained jobless. We still have to feed, clothe, house and pay their medical bills. This is why we regard the present administration as very insensitive. I don’t know how else anybody can define insensitivity, if not what we are passing through now.

If Governor Okorocha had decided to pay 40 percent of the total amount owed, we would have had some money to pay our bills. Government reduced the number of months owed us to whatever it liked and also decided to pay 40 percent of their faulty calculation.

Government should pay the much it can and leave the rest to the next administration. We know that this government can clear the backlog of pension and gratuity because there is money in the state.

Our gratuity is supposed to be the bulk of the seed money for all pensioners but the Governor is just not thinking in that direction at all.

Okorocha has brazingly breached the 1999 Constitution by denying pensioners the right to their pension and gratuity. By altering the pensions of retirees, to the disadvantage of pensioners, Okorocha has flouted the Constitution. He has no power to cut pension. It is illegal, unconstitutional, uncharitable, unchristian, absurd and anachronistic.