Enugu pensioners recount past ordeals as Mbah pays 26-year gratuity arrears

…Pensioners hail governor as promise keeper

...Mbah: No retiree should go to bed hungry

Enugu State pensioners under the auspices of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) have hailed Governor Peter Mbah for keeping his campaign promise to clear legacy arrears, describing their decades of disappointment after serving their fatherland as a harrowing experience.

The pensioners spoke as retirees started receiving their gratuities dating back to the year 2000, with some also extending to the military era, saying the development had restored life to their bodies.

The Chairman, Enugu State chapter of NUP, Ikechukwu Ekere, confirmed the development at the weekend, describing it as “an emotional moment for pensioners, many of whom had long given up hope of receiving their gratuities in their lifetime.”

“Yes, I can confirm to you that our members have started receiving the alerts. Governor Mbah is a promise keeper; he has done it again and we can’t thank him enough,” he said.

In the same vein, the Caretaker Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Local Government Staff Pensions Board Branch, Kenneth Ugwueze, told journalists that the development had restored hope and joy in many homes, saying that Mbah had, once again, proven himself as a leader who could be trusted.

“You know what it means for a governor to pay debts incurred by many governors before him? It takes a large quantity of milk of human kindness. We are happy to see a day like this in our lifetime. We will continue to pray for him.

“We are also grateful and happy with the new dimensions brought in by our governor in pension administration, especially in the local government system.

“Before now, local government workers and primary school teachers who retired had to wait for two years before receiving their pensions. But since the conclusion of the verification exercise in July 2024, no pensioner in the local government system has been denied pension. We have been receiving our pensions as and when due.

“Now that our people have started receiving alerts for their gratuity, it is a thing of joy,” he said.

Some beneficiaries of the ongoing payments also expressed gratitude to the governor, describing the development as a rekindling of hope after years and devades of waiting. They said previous governments had not paid them even in the days of excess crude revenues.

Mr. Luke Obi Ezea, who retired in 2014, said he had since resigned himself to fate and put everything in the hands of God.

“I put in 35 years in service. Already, I had put everything in the hands of God because previous governors had made promises, but to no avail. They were just empty promises at the end of their eight years. But Peter Mbah is an action governor and keeps his word,” he stated.

Mr. Sunday Nwadi, a 2015 retiree, described Mbah as a godly and listening governor who does not play politics with the welfare of his people.

“I am enjoying today because, apart from this gratuity, he is not owing monthly pensions. He is up to date. He is not like the others, who would owe us pensions for many months. Nothing will happen to Mbah. He is returning for a second term.”

Susanna Emehelu, whose husband retired in 2013, said the man had been sick for a long time, and they had been hoping against hope that the gratuity would come to help ameliorate their challenges.

“When I broke the good news to him, he was so happy and asked me to rush to the office to confirm. Now, he is so happy that he would eat the fruits of his labour in his lifetime. May God bless our governor,” she stated.

Mr. Paul Ozoeze, a 2010 retiree, said the gratuity payment had restored life to his body, noting that it had been nearly 20 years of suffering for him.

Meanwhile, the Accountant-General of Enugu State, Mr. Tony Okenwa, recalled that Mbah had always insisted during discussions leading up to the verification and payment of backlogs that no senior citizen should go to bed hungry.

“These are old debts. Some of them date back even to the military era. But the governor has said that no retiree will stay without receiving his or her pension and gratuity, and he is very passionate about it.

“Whenever I went to him, he would ask: ‘Do you mean that people retire and then don’t go home with their gratuity?’

“He could not understand how somebody would work for many years, retire and still not receive what he had earned,” Okenwa said.

He said the State Executive Council, after several layers of verification, approved N32bn, with the governor releasing an initial N10bn, assuring that the releases would continue until the entire liabilities were cleared.