Dons EzeMrs. Stella Odo is critically ill. Mrs. Odo, a widow and local government pensioner in Nsukka local government has been ill for over three months now. She retired from active service in November 2022 as a primary school teacher having reached the position of Head Teacher and retirement age of 60 years. She retired grade level 16.
Since her retirement, she just started receiving pension in November 2023 because of backlog of unpaid pension arrears of her predecessors.
When our reporter spoke with her on phone, she narrated that ” the state government is currently owing local government pension two years arrears of pension. We just received July 2022 pension last month and remember we are now in August 2024.”
Narrating further, Mrs. Odo told WITHIN NIGERIA that ” we are expecting August 2022 pension. And even at that, they don’t pay it every month. They may not pay this August pension until sometime like October. So, that is the situation in which we have found ourselves as local government pensioners.”
However, expressing her optimism, Mrs. Odo said that ” I heard that local government areas in Nigeria are now autonomous. So, by God’s grace, very soon their monthly allocation from Federation Account will be coming directly into their respectively account instead of state joint account. So, with such development, we will hope that they will clear all the backlog of pension arrears, pay us our elusive gratuity and continue to pay our pension promptly.”
Asked how she has been surviving with nonpayment of pension by the state government, Odo told our reporter that, ” I usually organized private lessons when I was healthy. I also taught in private school when I was physically sound. But now that I am sick, only God knows how I manage to survive, couple with high cost of drugs which I use to take to maintain my health.”
Another local government retiree, Mr. James Onochie from Udenu local government also told our reporter that “presently we are hoping that the local government autonomy will help us recover our seemingly lost arrears of pension from the Enugu state government.”
Narrating further, Mr. Onochie told WITHIN NIGERIA that ” I retired in 2020 as a Director in the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board, ENSUBEB which controls all the public primary schools in the state. The state government is currently owing me two years of pension arrears. Also, the state government has not paid me my gratuity till now. So, our hope is in the local government to clear all these arrears when they become truly autonomous as recently pronounced by the Supreme Court in Nigeria.”
Mr. Onochie regretted that his counterpart in Post Primary School Management Board, PPSMB, a board that oversees the activities of public secondary schools in the state are not owed even a dime as far pension is concerned.
“Though my counterpart in secondary schools have not received their gratuity, they are not owed any arrears of pension. They are paid as at when due. I have vowed that none of children and grandchildren will ever be a local government staff in this country. Let me be the last to bear this man’s inhumanity to man.”
By and large, some staff of local government interviewed in the state conversely expressed their pessimism over the ability of local government to pay their salaries promptly should the autonomy takes its full effect.
At Ogbede, the headquarters of Igbo-Etiti local government area of Enugu state, one of the staff who spoke to our reporter under the condition of anonymity stated that one of his greatest fear is the prompt payment of monthly salary.
” I am particularly concerned that these local government chairmen may become too powerful and start meddling with the finances of their workers.
” Remember that in the past, we were owed about sixteen months of arrears of salary. It took the intervention of former President Buhari through Paris Club fund to offset these arrears. We don’t want to pass through such horrible experience again.”
In any case, for one Uzo-Uwani local government worker who gave her name as Martina (not real name) her fear is that of regular attendance. According to her, she lives in Onitsha and will not be able to attend work regularly should the autonomy takes effect.
” I live in Onitsha, Anambra state with my family. I know that if the local government autonomy takes effect, they will be so much strict with staff attendance. My fear now is that if the local government autonomy takes effect, they will start monitoring staff attendance.”
Explaining further, Martina said that “this will become a problem for me because I can’t imagine myself traveling all the way from Onitsha to my place of work in Uzo-Uwani every week when my salary is just a peanut.”
In any case, as the fear of the unknown mounts over the local government autonomy, one of the candidates of the October 5, 2024 local government election in Enugu state, Barr. Onuora Odo told our reporter allayed the fear of the citizens, stressing that the council chairmen will definitely carry out their duty judiciously.
In an exclusive telephone chat, Barr. Odo, the Igbo-Eze North Chairmanship candidate in the October 5, 2024 election under the platform of Labour Party explained that if elected, he will surely clear all the pension arrears in his council area.
“If elected, I would tackle the issue of unpaid pension arrears and gratuities in Igbo-Eze North local government area with a multi-step approach:
The very first step I will take is to carry out a thorough audit so as to ascertain the number of pensioners, amount owed, and gratuities due to ensure accurate records.
“The second approach is to allocate a significant portion of the local government’s budget to pension and gratuity payments. The third step is to develop a well structured plan to clear arrears in installments, ensuring regular payments.
“And finally, we are going to leverage local government autonomy by utilizing the opportunity offered by the autonomy laws to make independent financial decisions free from state interference. I and my team would ensure we implement measures to prevent future accumulation of arrears.
“By following these plans, I strongly believe it’s possible to clear the arrears and gratuities, while also ensuring sustainable solutions for our valued pensioners.”
