Abia to start payment of retirees gratuities, launches contributory pensions scheme for workers

Abia Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, flanked by the state’s Attorney General (left) and S.A Media and Publicity to the Governor (right) at the briefing 

The Abia State government has said that a special committee set up by the Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, is addressing the issue of payment of gratuity to retirees in the state and that payments will be made once the committee fulfils its assignment.

This is also as the state has completed arrangements to launch a Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for workers in the state civil service to make the ugly issue of owing pension payments and arrears a thing of the past.

The state Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, disclosed this at Government House, Umuahia, while addressing the press on the outcome of State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Otti.

Sources informed Business Hallmark that gratuity was last paid to retired civil servants in Abia in 2001 by previous administrations, and became a concern to the new administration.

The issue of gratuity became a problem when the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) lumped gratuity together with pensions as debts owed to retirees in the state.

It took the intervention of the national leadership of the body to separate the two statutory payments and pleaded with the present administration to bend backward to treat pensions and gratuity separately.

Meanwhile, the commissioner assured that Abia the present administration is not taking workers’ salaries and monthly pension payments for granted, given the fact that workers now receive their salaries and pension payments every 28th day of the month.

On the achievements so far made in the state’s school system, the commissioner disclosed that the recent data collection exercise conducted by the Abia State Basic Education Board, (ASUBEB) and Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) across the state shows that the school enrolment figures of public schools in the state increased between the months of July and October by over 100 percent.

Prince Kanu attributed the success achieved to the reforms in the education sector, including the introduction of the free education programme by the Governor Otti -led administration in primary and junior secondary schools, which took effect from January.

“The other reforms, of course, include an increase in the number of newly recruited qualified teachers, Regular payment of teachers salaries, financial compensation for teachers in difficult-to-access areas, increase in the retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65 years, regular training and retraining of teachers, improvement in the Teaching/Learning environment, and adoption of new curricula for other schools, amongst others”, Prince Kanu explained.

“This is an indication that the confidence and trust in our public school system is increasing by the day as a result of the reforms being implemented in the educational sector across the state by this administration”.

The information boss revealed that the Governor would officially launch the Contributory Pension Scheme for Abia Workers in November 2025, in keeping with the ongoing reforms in the state’s civil service, whereby workers’ welfare is given greater attention.

“The state government, upon inception, of course, will have well paid- off outstanding pension arrears owed to Abia workers by the previous administration”, Kanu declared.

The commissioner used the opportunity to advise Abians to be mindful about their safety on the roads during these ember months of the year.

He said that motorists are expected to obey traffic rules in order not to endanger their lives and the lives of other road users.

“Of particular focus is the issue of driving against traffic, referred to as ‘one-way driving’. Because of the menace that this practise poses on our roads.

“The State Ministry of Transport, through the Harmonised Taskforce, in collaboration with the Federal Road Safety Commission, have launched a campaign, code-named ‘Road Safety is a Shared Responsibility –Drive to Arrive’.

“No matter how highly placed in society, if you are caught violating the traffic line rules, you will be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“A situation whereby even the governor of the state obeys traffic rules, which is a convoy. No motorist in the state will have reasons not to comply fully with the traffic rules in the state,Kanu stated”.

In an answer to a question on the non-payments of leave allowances, disparity in salaries and other statutory emoluments due to civil servants in the state, the SA to the governor on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, explained that a committe has been constituted to look at such and related cases wholistically.

Meanwhile, Gov. Alex Otti, on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, commissioned the Umueñe Court Building Complex, located in Isialangwa South Local Government Area, in line with the ongoing reform agenda of the state’s justice delivery system.