Supreme Court passed judgment, giving local governments financial autonomy....CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING.>>
Mixed reactions trail the judgment as many local government workers in Enugu express fear of constant monitoring by superior officers.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!LG pensioners in Enugu state hail judgment, express optimism over payment of backlog of their pensions, gratuities
Mrs. 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.
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 said 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 said 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 said ” 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.”
Martina, a local government worker living in Onitsha, is concerned that local government autonomy will lead to stricter attendance monitoring, which she fears will be problematic given her long commute and low salary.
In response to such concerns, Barr. Onuora Odo, a candidate in the upcoming local government election in Enugu State, reassured citizens that council chairmen will perform their duties responsibly.
Odo also promised to clear all pension arrears if elected as Igbo-Eze North Chairmanship candidate.
“If elected, I plan to address unpaid pension arrears and gratuities in Igbo-Eze North with a multi-step strategy.
First, I’ll conduct a thorough audit to determine the exact amounts owed. Next, I’ll allocate a significant portion of the budget to these payments.
Then, I’ll create a structured plan to clear arrears in installments and ensure regular payments. Lastly, I’ll use local government autonomy to make independent financial decisions and implement measures to prevent future arrears.
This approach aims to resolve current issues and provide sustainable solutions for pensioners..”
