A group of pensioners in Abia State has appealed to Governor Alex Otti to review and reverse the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) concerning their retirement benefits. The appeal was made by the Abia Pensioners’ Forum, a pressure group within the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), during a press briefing in Umuahia.
The group’s Coordinator, Okey Kanu, addressed the governor’s claim that his administration had paid off pension arrears left by the previous government under Okezie Ikpeazu. Kanu urged the governor to settle the remaining balance of pension arrears and gratuities. He pointed out that before the MOA, many pensioners were owed up to 60 months of arrears, with the last gratuity payment dating back to 2002.
Governor Otti had previously announced that over ₦9 billion of the ₦10 billion allocated for clearing pension arrears had been utilized, covering debts owed to approximately 12,500 pensioners from 2014 onwards. Kanu acknowledged the governor’s efforts in regularly paying monthly pensions since April and his other developmental achievements but stressed that the issue of unpaid gratuities remains unresolved.
Kanu proposed that if the government cannot settle the remaining benefits in one payment, it should consider doing so in installments. He also highlighted that the MOA, which involved the forfeiture of gratuities, was not fully transparent and that the issue of gratuities was not discussed during the NUP’s negotiations with the government. According to Kanu, the MOA’s terms were not binding on the pensioners and should not have included gratuity forfeiture.
The group also claimed that the state NUP officials had requested meetings with the government to clarify these issues but had not received satisfactory responses. Kanu emphasized that pension and gratuity arrears are statutory rights and should be honored without negotiation, criticizing the government’s handling of the pensioners’ entitlements.