The
Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has announced plans to adopt
the contributory pension system as a means of ensuring that retirees from the
State and Local Government service are better taken care of upon retirement.
Governor
Ugwuanyi, who was speaking during a meeting with thousands of retirees and
pensioners at the Lion Building, Government House, Enugu, Wednesday, said the
Enugu State Government, under his watch, is determined to plug all loopholes in
the retirees welfare system and enthrone a regime of simplicity and
transparency that will ease the burden of chasing after pensions by senior
citizens while also ridding the system of corruption.
Already,
the Governor revealed that a Committee that will work out the modalities
towards the adoption of the contributory pension scheme has commenced work,
promising that implementation will take place soon afterwards.
In
his emotional presentation during the meeting, the Governor revealed that the
state’s pension bill has risen to over N500million per month, up from an
average of N200 million under previous administration, adding that the
transparent approach by his administration has ensured the capture of a larger
number of retired civil servants in the pensions safety net.
“Today,
we run a pension bill of over N500 million every month. This means that for
each year, we pay an estimated N6 billion to our senior citizens. It also means
that by the end of our first term in office, this bill will be around N24
billion. But we are happy that in spite of the huge burden on the government,
our efforts have been making life a lot more meaningful for our senior citizens,”
the Governor said.
He
lamented the situation where some retirees have been unable to receive their
monthly pensions and blamed it on the failure of those affected to be captured
in the biometric registration programme embarked upon by the government in 2016
but expressed the willingness of the State Government to create another window
to enable those that were not initially captured to be added to the data base.
While
urging the retirees to take advantage of the new window to properly be
documented, he praised the pensioners for their unflinching support and prayers
for his administration and expressed the readiness of his government to
continue to work for the overall welfare of the citizens of the state.
Earlier
in his solidarity address, Enugu State Chairman of the Nigerian Union of
Pensioners (NUP) Comrade Damian Udeani praised Governor Ugwuanyi for his
unwavering disposition of his administration towards the welfare of workers in
the state, stating that workers in the employ of the Enugu State government
have become the toast of others in other states.
He
reminded the gathering that the administration of Governor Ugwuanyi, upon
assumption of office, had cleared a backlog of 15 months salaries owed to employees
in the Local Government system prior to the coming of his administration in
2015 and urged the Governor to do all his powers to ensure that the hiccups in
the pension payment system are cleared in order to ease the burden on the
senior citizens.
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