‘Come to our rescue, we’re dying,’ Neglected Ebonyi retirees beg Nwifuru

Retired civil servants in Ebonyi State who are yet to be paid their retirement benefits have appealed to the state governor, Francis Nwifuru, to come to their rescue, as according to them, some are already dying on account of hunger in the wake of the economic hardship affecting the country.

The affected retirees said they were promised by the Governor since September, 2023 that their gratuities and accumulated pensions would be paid by December, 2023, but have waited in vain.

And these people had been suffering throughout the eight years of former governor. David Umahi, Nwifuru decided to start addressing the matter.

Some are already developing cold feet noting that why is it that immediately it reached them, the whole exercise stopped again.

A cross section of the retirees interviewed praised Gov Nwifuru for raising their hopes but appealed to him to remember the promise he made to them as they were still expecting him to settle them once and for all.

Our correspondent gathered that the Committee set up by the State Government to pay the gratuities and pensions owed the retirees from 1996 to 2021, headed by Prof Adeline Idike only succeeded in paying the retirees who were screened in Nov/Dec 2022.

When they finished paying them, they scheduled another batch of screening which they eventually carried out in November, 2023.

Gov. Nwifuru later addressed these remaining retirees who were yet to be paid at the old Government House and promised them that they will be paid before December ending, 2023.

But since then, nothing has been heard about the Adeline Idike Committee which appears to have wound up, thereby raising fears that the remaining retirees yet to be paid may have been forgotten once again.

All efforts made to get the reaction of the Head of Service or the Accountant General to throw light on the issue failed to yield fruits.

Some of the retirees who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity appealed to the Governor to come to their rescue as the economic hardship in the country was bitting harder now.