Chairperson of retirees reserves comment on N40bn loan to offset gratuities

* Let’s wait until the money gets to Pension Bureau, she says

By Jon Egie

Chairperson of the Association of Classroom Teachers Retirees (ACR), in Delta State, Chief Mrs Helen Ejieh has reserved comment on the media report of N40 billion loan pursued by outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and supposedly meant to offset the backlog of gratuities owed the State retirees.

A publication by SaharaReporters has indicated that Outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in a last minute effort to rest the issue of his administration’s indebtedness to some senior citizens of the State, had compelled the Chairmen of the 25 local councils to obtain a loan of N40 billion to meet up their statutory obligation of payment of the gratuities of the retired public primary school teachers.

According to the publication, this was in reinforcement of the outgoing Governor’s denial of onus of responsibility to the acrued debts, shifting the burden on Chairmen of the councils who had been technically dodging their responsibilities and thereby laying public blame and casting aspersion on the governor for being insensitive to the plight of retirees in the State.

Although it was reported that the Council Chairmen grumbled over the imposition of the loan and it’s service on them, yet, the Chairman of the State Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and who doubles as the Chairman of Ika North East counci, Hon Victor Ebonka, confirmed the development and said N40 billion loan would not even be enough to offset the pensioners backlog of debts which sources say amount to over N50 billion.

“It is the exclusive duty and responsibility, statutorily of the local government councils to pay its workers and its pensioners, independent of the state. In actual sense, it’s not the responsibility of the state government to pay these pensioners but it’s the responsibility of the local government and the governor in his magnanimity doled out N5 billion from state fund to argument payment.” Ebonka told SaharaReporters.

It would be recalled that retirees in Delta State have for the past four years engaged the outgoing governor in protests demanding for the payment of their gratuities after over seven years of signing out of service.

The governor had maintained that he was not statutorily responsible to their demands and the controversy has been raging and the issue became a campaign promise by opposition political parties in the recent electioneering campaigns.

“Sometime in March 2022, Governor Okowa was smuggled of out a programme by the Operatives of the Department of Security Service, (DSS) and other security details attached to the governor following a protest by the state retirees who blocked the entrance of the event centre in Asaba.” Saharareporters recalled.

According to the report, the N40 billion loan may be sourced from one of the new generation banks, Premium Trust Bank, Asaba, which the governor allegedly has interest, though he had denied such interest.

The Council Chairmen, it was learnt, received ‘Executive Instructions’ to direct Councilors in the 25 local councils of the State to give legislative backing to the loan.

The decision for the loan was reached on May, 2, 2023 during a meeting at the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee, (JAAC) and attended by the 25 council chairmen.

It was said that the loan would be paid back within the period of eighty months.

Six days after the JAAC meeting, a letter was written from the state pension bureau, signed by its secretary, Frank Atube, dated May, 8, 2023 and addressed to the state chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, (ALGON), Victor Ebonka, to the effect of the loan.

The letter which was sighted by SaharaReporters, indicated the spread of each local counci commitment to the loan as follows:

Aniocha North N1.406 billion, Aniocha South N1.182 billion, Bomadi N903.8 million, Burutu N1.402 billion, Ethiope East N2.250 billion, Ethiope West N2.165 billion, Ika North East N1.715 billion, Ika South N1.602 billion, Isoko North N1.388 billion, Isoko South N2.178 billion, Okpe N1.706 billion, Oshimili North N1.141 billion, Oshimili South N1.524, Patani N1.141 billion, Sapele N1.473 billion, Udu N1.896 billion, Ughelli North N2.656 billion, Ughelli South N2.300 billion, Ukwuani N1.254 billion, Uvwie N1.166 billion, Warri North 1.189 billion, Warri South N1.506 billion and Warri South West N1.305 billion.

Contacted for her reaction on the issue, Chairman of ACR, Chief Mrs Helen Ejieh said, “I have no comment for now, let us wait until the money is domiciled in the account of the Pension Bureau”.

Chief Mrs Ejieh had been a strong critic of the Okowa administration on the issue of delayed payment of gratuities to retirees and was the arrowhead of the mass protests against the outgoing governor and the PDP.

The protests had drawn local and international attention and sympathy for the retirees which smeared the public image of the Okowa administration and led to poor performance of Atiku/Okowa presidential bid at the February 25 Presidential election in Delta State.