Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Governor Alex Otti has at last agreed to revisit the controversial memorandum of agreement (MoA) under which Abia retirees were made to forfeit N20 billion out of the N30 billion pension arrears owed by the previous administration.

He promised “to take another look” on the agreement his government had signed with the leadership of the Abia State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners(NUP), which also made retirees to forfeit their unpaid gratuities.

Otti inherited pension arrears of N30 billion from his predecessor and also unspecified amount of unpaid gratuities.

However, the Abia Governor had sparked outrage in April last year following his claim that the pension arrears had been cleared after paying the retirees a total amount of N10 billion having “agreed” to forfeit N20 billion under the MoA.

For almost a year now, Otti and his aides have been defending the agreement signed with the NUP leadership, insisting that the issue of pension arrears was done and dusted.

The governor even accused the NUP leaders of being dishonest for signing the agreement and turning back to repudiate the terms. He had vehemently refused all entreaties to reconsider the matter.

But at last, Otti has bowed to pressure, acknowledging that the issue of the pension arrears “has become problematic” hence his decision to revisit it and possibly find a lasting and acceptable solution.

Though he agreed to have a rethink on the pension issue, Otti did not spare the NUP leaders as he again berated them for being “dishonest” and provoking his anger by lying against him.

“You can’t agree on something and then come to say that you didn’t agree. You can’t sign and say you signed under duress, particularly for our senior citizens.

“I have maintained that our senior citizens and pensioners are very honest people, very, very honest. The problem is with their leadership and the problem of the leadership has to do with their association,” he said.

Otti’s change of mind was provoked weekend by the sermon delivered by the Chaplain of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, Very Rev Ernest Onyeukwu, during the thanksgiving service to mark the 80th birthday anniversary of Senator Chris Adighije, an Abia elder statesman.

The cleric had passionately appealed to the governor, who was at the church service along with his Imo State counterpart, Senator Hope Uzodinma, to listen to the cries of Abia retirees over their said forfeited pension arrears and gratuities.

Onyeukwu, who retired as a permanent secretary in Abia Civil Service, pointed out the impropriety of denying a worker his pension and gratuity after 35 years of service to the state, noting that retirees live on their pensions and start new life with their gratuities.

The Abia Governor was pleased that the cleric was knowledgeable in the history of unpaid pensions by previous administrations in Abia, and in his sermon noted that N10 billion has been spent by the Otti administration to offset pension arrears.

“When you said nobody was paid pension in 2018, you are very correct. Not one dime was paid but the leadership of the NUP was part of the reason nobody was paid,” the governor stated.

According to him, when the NUP leaders “were going into an agreement with me, they probably didn’t believe that payment will be made” given their experience with the past Abia governments.

Otti regretted that “when I made the payment, they (NUP leaders) now went round to say that they didn’t sign. So, that angered me but because you (Rev. Onyeukwu) have said it, I will have a second look at it”.

Nonetheless, he urged the FMC Chaplain to caution the Abia NUP leadership and “should also tell them to mind who their friends are” since the NUP leaders had “talked to you” to plead their cause
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Otti wondered how “somebody owed (retirees) for over ten years, didn’t pay you and somebody comes and brings N10 billion and puts on the table and pays you, and tomorrow, that person that owed you comes out to speak for you”.

“So, you can see that something is wrong,” Otti said.

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