Ihedioha and Okorocha
By Chidi Nkwopara, OWERRI
The title of this script is very deliberate, especially when the plight of pensioners in Imo State, is given the thought it rightly deserves.
Ihedioha and Okorocha
Before Chief Emeka Ihedioha came on board as Imo State Governor, May 29, 2019, the plight of pensioners in the state was anything but good. Their gratuities, which ordinarily, ought to have been a given, sadly became a luxury item and indeed, a mirage, throughout the eight-year tenure of Chief Rochas Okorocha. Let us refresh our minds a bit.
All the government establishments, charged with the responsibility of overseeing the welfare of the state’s senior citizens, were boxed into a comatose position. Indeed, a staff of one of the establishments, said that: “It would be an understatement to say that our office was comatose. It was simply dead, completely.”
Culture and Tourism not my area of expertise ―Senator Okorocha(Opens in a new browser tab)
Okorocha, for whatever reasons, brazenly toyed with pensioners throughout his tenure. All the statutory bodies that had anything to do with pension and gratuity, were stopped from carrying out their legitimate duties.
For the first time in the history of pension payments, the responsibility kept shifting from traditional rulers to the controversial Community Government Council, CGC, the Community Development Council, CDC and the State Development Council, SDC.
Apart from these inexplicable shifts, Okorocha ordered periodic biometric evaluation of pensioners in the state, until he came up with fractional payment of pensions in the state.
In carrying out this act, Okorocha came up with a document his administration expected all pensioners to sign. All those that signed the document, willingly wrote off about 60 percent of their earned entitlements and were no longer expected to lay any claim to the rest of the unpaid pensions.
While some pensioners, out of sheer hunger, disease, penury or the palpable fear of not getting anything at all from their earned stipends, signed the document, the state leadership of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, thought differently.
They dragged the Okorocha administration to the Industrial Court, sitting in Owerri. They not only won the case, but also the Court made a lot of consequential pronouncements, including the fact that the administration had no powers to tamper with people’s pension. All the orders of the Court were not obeyed and the pensioners kept suffering until Ihedioha stepped into office.
Chief Ihedioha, among other promises, assured pensioners of regular payment of their stipends. He also reiterated his campaign promise of transparency and accountability.
The first thing that faced the Ihedioha administration was the absence of a handover note. The same was also true of pension documents. None was available anywhere!
Being determined to redress the sordid details facing Imo pensioners, as fast as possible, Ihedioha decided to begin collation of pensioners’ data afresh. What appeared most intriguing was that the company Okorocha allegedly gave the contract of creating pensioners data base, failed to either show up or submit any document to the new administration.
Faced with this scenario, Ihedioha bought new computers, engaged over 200 computer literate youngsters, collected all personal files of retirees from wherever he could lay hands on them, and commenced work. Governor Ihedioha co-opted the NUP leadership and that of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.
To convince Imo people that he meant business, members of data collection task force visited hospitals and private homes, to capture the biometric data of sick and bedridden pensioners. All efforts by opposition elements in the state, to rubbish the exercise, were countered by the NUP and NLC leaderships.
On completion of the collation, Governor Ihedioha invited all pension stakeholders Friday, October 11, 2019, in Owerri. It was at this meeting that he directed the state Accountant General, the Head of Service, HOS. and the Commissioner for Finance, to “complete all necessary formalities for the commencement of the payment of pensions this week”.
The Governor also directed the government officials to work out the authentic accurate statistics involved in the payment, just as he attributed the delay in clearing the arrears to discrepancies in the figures submitted to him from relevant offices on assumption of office.
He recalled that to remedy the disturbing situation he inherited, the Governor said that a committee was set up to enable his administration arrive at an accurate figure for monthly payment of the pensions and to avoid possible double payment or even omissions.
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