- By; Patrick Titus, Uyo
Paris Club refund, demonstrators in Akwa Ibom State have urged the state government to declare its stands on the arrears of pensions and gratuities owed them from 1991 till date.
The federal government in giving out the Paris Club refund to states directing that the money be used to settle arrears of salaries owed to civil servants as well as owed pensions and gratuities to retirees.
The group under the aegis of Next of Kin to late Primary school teachers in the state who staged a peaceful protest on Tuesday to the State Universal Basic education Board (SUBEB) in Uyo, accused the state governor, Udom Emmanuel of paying the living retirees their pensions and gratuities leaving the dead unpaid.
They carried placards with various inscriptions such as “Pay our entitlements – Next of Kin; “Pay from N14.5bn Paris Club refund; where is the Paris Club debt refund money?, Who owes the death? No more politic with us; No more excuses, all we are saying is give us our rights” etc.
In a statement made available to newsmen, the protesters stated that, “In 2014, the state government singled out the retirees who are living and paid them leaving us behind.
“We have been screened and given letters of administration and given time to be paid but rather than being paid, what we later learnt from the state pension board was that our files were not found.
“Last year, we sought audience with the Head of Service, Mrs. Ekereobong Akpan in her office, she sympathized with us and promised that something would soon be done but up till date nothing has been done.”
When interviewed, one of them, Eno Kenneth said, “We want the state government to tell us what the 1st batch of Paris Club refund given to the state is used for. Now that the federal government has released the next batch of the refund, we want to know what state’s government stand is for us”
“We have embarked on consistent protests over the years demanding for payment of our late parent’s pensions and gratuities because it is our legitimate entitlement. But it appears that the state government doesn’t have interest to pay us otherwise they would have listened to our plights rather than sending the police to arrest and detain our members,” he added.
Another protester, Mrs. Mary Ita, a widow said, “my late husband, a primary school teacher retired and died since 2008 without receiving his due entitlements. He left six children in my care. All of them are in school that’s why I take the pain to cry to government to please pay his entitlements to assist me take care of the children.”
Addressing the protesters at the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr. Raphael Bassey, Commissioner 11, commended them for being peaceful in their action, adding that the board is already aware of their problem and was putting everything in place to ensure that all the grey areas being experienced in compiling the lists of all pensioners in the state are addressed.
According to him, the state governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel is passionate about the matter and has directed that a full compilation of list of the affected persons be sent to his office.
He assured the protesters that with the passion shown by the Governor, all owed entitlements in the state would be paid soon.
