Imo pensioners blast Okorocha over payment of arrears

Imo State branch of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, has pooh-poohed Governor Rochas Okorocha’s claim that his administration has cleared the arrears of pension owed all senior citizens in the state.

The NUP leadership reacted angrily to the governor’s claim in a press statement issued after their executive committee meeting in Owerri, and signed by the State Chairman and Principal State Secretary, Chief Donatus Nwokedi and Evangelist Livinus Ashiegbu respectively.


The angry retirees equally accused the governor of surreptitiously plotting to destabilise the union through the formation of a body, called Senior Citizens Association of Imo State

The governor was also accused of “appointing hungry, gullible and insensitive pensioners as ward and local government coordinators.”

“The union condemns in very strong terms, the statement claiming that all arrears of pension and gratuity of all pensioners have been paid. Government is still owing between 30 and 87 months arrears ”, Imo NUP fumed.

The senior citizens took exception to what they described as “endless cycle of verification” imposed on it’s members by the state government, adding that “this has become very humiliating and should be stopped forthwith”.

While condemning the distortion of the system for payment of pension in the state, the union however called for the restoration of the statutory offices of the Head of Service, Accountant General’s Office and the Local Government Pension Board, for the payment of pension and gratuities, as well as harmonisation of pension in the state.