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Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has released two billion, thirteen million Naira as the local government share of the second tranche of the London-Paris Club Refund for payment of arrears of pensions, gratuity and other entitlements of retirees and local government staff in the state.
According to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Enugu State, Dr. Benedict Ezema, who doubles as the Chairman of the Disbursement Committee, three local government areas have been covered, adding that the criteria for the payment of the benefits were the presentation of Biometric Capturing Printout and letters of first appointment and last promotion.
Presenting more details on the sharing formula of the amount, the Secretary of the Committee, Hon. Innocent Eze, explained that the former political office holders in the Local Government Councils got N300 million, while Local Government staff got N700 million for their Leave Allowance, adding that payment of pension arrears (March to June 2017) and gratuity (2002 to 2005) for retirees of LG staff and teachers took N1 billion.
At Ogbede, the headquarters of Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area, where the payment exercise is currently going on, there was a large turnout of beneficiaries, who were visibly elated to receive their entitlements from the state government.
Some of them who spoke after collecting their cheques expressed delight at Governor Ugwuanyi’s inspiring leadership style, which they said is centred on alleviating the sufferings of the people.
They thanked the governor for wiping away their tears, describing him as “a man who has the interests of the masses at heart”.
The beneficiaries assured Gov. Ugwuanyi that will reciprocate the gesture by ensuring that he is re-elected in office in 2019.
In the same vein, the President of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Enugu State chapter, Comrade Kenneth Ugwueze commended Gov. Ugwuanyi for being passionate about the welfare of the workers and pensioners in the 17 Local Government Areas of the state.
Comrade Ugwueze noted that in spite of the fact that the governor inherited the debts from previous administrations, he still deemed it important to pay the beneficiaries in a transparent manner.
In his remark, the Transition Committee Chairman of Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area, Hon. IG Ishienyi, applauded the governor for his administration’s commitment to the social contract it entered with the people of the state and advised the beneficiaries to make judicious use of their entitlements.
Hon. Ishienyi recalled that since he joined politics this is the first time a State Chief Executive was coming to the rescue of those who have spent their useful years serving the State in particular and the nation in general.
