Pay our N850m pension arrears, Anambra retirees beg Soludo

Pensioners in Anambra State have begged Governor Chukwuma Soludo to pay them N850 million arrears owed them by the state government after their retirement.

The retirees, under the aegis of Anambra State Local Government Health Pensioners, lamented that four of their members have lost their lives as a result of the hardship they are facing.

While appealing to the governor, they used the moment to organize a prayer section for God to touch Soludo’s heart to remember them.

The chairman of the Retired Health Workers Pensioners in the state, Comrade Rafael Okoye, said the problem might not be from Soludo but from his Commissioner for Local Government and Secretary of the Joint Account Allocation Committee JAAC.

He said there was a ‘consent judgment’ delivered by the National Industrial Court in Awka which was signed by the commissioner for justice and Attorney General that 10% of the monthly local government allocation should go to the pensioners.

He explained that rather than commence installment payment as ordered by the court, they reneged on the terms of the settlement, claiming lack of funds.

Okoye said the hardship was instrumental in the death of four of their members, adding that the Soludo he knew would love to pay, saying that they believe few persons in his administration were responsible for their present situation.

During the prayer session, the pensioners carried placards with various inscriptions like: “Local Government Health Pensioners are not dead woods or orphans, they’re bonafide Ndi Anambra; “Please Governor direct JAAC to pay health pensioners as recommended by the Attorney-General and ordered by the court”, “Local government monthly statutory allocation is more than N5billion”, among others

Okoye said they had 127 health pensioners who retired from the local government service of Anambra state from January 2015 to December 2019.

He added that they were owed 850 million naira, arising from the inadvertent omission of their names in the implementation of a 60% Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS).

However, one of the government officials who did not want to be mentioned, disclosed that Soludo had them in his plans.

The source further said that very soon, their issue would be looked into, adding that there was no cause for alarm.