By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The Benue State Government says it has prioritized the payment of pensions to pensioners in the 23 Local Government Areas of the state to uplift their condition after years of service.

The Special Adviser to the Benue State Governor, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftancy Affairs, Denen Aondoakaa who made the disclosure Monday explained that the government ensures that the pensioners received their due at the end of every month.

He assured that efforts were alteady on to ensure the payment of the backlog of unpaid pensions inherited by the government.

“The government ensures that local government pensioners received their pensions as and when due. And as for the backlog we inherited, pension liabilities are huge but government is a continuum, efforts are on to pay it and we are not going to shy away from it.”

He explained that the government was doing so much in various sectors to improve the living condition and wellbeing of the people of the state.

He said, “currently the government is renovating 98 Primary Health Centres, PHCs, in the Local Government Area, LGAs, under the IMPACT Project. We want to ensure that when a woman walks into a PHC, someone is there to attend to her 24 hours of the day.

“We are also renovating staff quarters and chairmen residential houses to make them stay back at their respective councils to work instead of running to urban centers.”

According him “In most LGAs, residential quarters of staff, Directors, General Services and Administration, DGSA, and Chairmen were dilapidated and abandoned. But we are renovating and putting them in order and creating an enabling environment for the officers to stay comfortably and work in their respective LGAs.”

He stated that the state government was doing everything to support security agencies in the state do their jobs and would continue to sustain the intervention.