No Staggered Pension Payment in Imo, NUP Leadership visits Imo State Gov
Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, has said that Staggered payment of pensions in Imo State is something they have never been involved in and will never be. He said any other insinuation is the figment of the imagination of those who want to continue to rip-off the hard work of genuine pensioners.
The Governor made the statement while speaking on the aftermath of his meeting with the National Union of Pensioners (NUP) in Imo Government House on Friday.
He said, “What we did on assumption of duty was to ease the problem encountered in the face of some fraudulent entries and dubious record keeping by paying pensioners as they were screened and verified. The record of Pensioners and pension-payment system was fraudulently manipulated to the advantage of pension administrators.”
“These were the profound clarifications I tendered at the Imo State government House Owerri when I received the National Union of Pensioners (NUP) led by their National President, Dr. Abel Afolayan who were in my office on a courtesy call. The group had told me how they were made to believe that Imo State was carrying out staggered pension payment.”
“There is no reasonable Nigerian who would not want to support the pensioners, but because of the situation of pensioners I met on ground, it looked like there was delayed cordial relationship which slowed payment of pension allowances. I made them to understand that if there is anything I would do to improve the lives of the pensioners in Imo State, I will not hesitate to do that, which is exactly what we have been upto.”
“The fraud we unravelled were monumental and no reasonable administration would want to carry it over, hence we decided to painstakingly scrutinise the records and raw data made available to us which enabled our administration to establish the true pensioners in Imo State.”
“The good story is that with these efforts, Imo State has gotten a near-master script which has resulted in close to 100% clearance of all genuine pensioners in Imo State, and those owed pensions now are less than 900. Soon, all involved will get their allowances.”
“We pledge to continue to do those things which are possible to a pensioner now, which is guaranteed payment of pensioners’ allowances and remittance of their check-off dues. I have since directed the Accountant General to create a dedicated account for this purpose. This is to meet up with the World Bank requirement of quarterly publication of financial statements of State governments to qualify for its assistance.”
“I thank the senior citizens for their visit which was indeed an opportunity to interact, intervene and show solidarity to their colleagues in Imo State and South East in general.”