Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has stopped the payment of pensions to retired civil servants in the state. The governor cited fraud in the state wage bill.
Those close to the government however informed the magazine that the decision may not be unconnected with the challenges of paucity of funds facing the state as a result of recent shortfall from the federal allocations to stat e governments. Many state governments are owing retired civil servants arrears of pensions.
Affected in the new regime, are permanent secretaries, directors, Deputy Directors Assistant Directors among others who have left the service of the state.
The governor made this known while addressing journalists shortly after the executive council meeting that took place at the New Government House, Abakaliki, the state capital.
Speaking through the Commissioner of Information and State Orientation, Uchenna Orji, the governor lamented the continued increase in the wage bills of the state.
Orji said “EXCO received a memo on the re-validation and re-verification of Pensioners in Ebonyi State due to a continuous increase in wage bills. The office of the Head of Service had made discoveries of payments made to deceased pensioners in the State and this is one of the reasons for this verification exercise.
“EXCO approved the re-validation of all pensioners in the state beginning with the retired Permanent Secretaries and Directors in the State.
“EXCO also further approved that payment of pensions to these pensioners be suspended until the end of the exercise which will not exceed twenty (20) working days after which payments to all cleared retirees will be reinstated.”
The state helmsman, has now ordered the immediate re-validation and re-verification of pensioners in Ebonyi State.
Meanwhile, those familiar with the economic situation in the country informed the magazine that the problem of shortage of funds is not unrelated to the reduction of allocations from the federal government to the 36 state governments in the country in recent months.
If the situation persists, the analysts say, many states will not be able to pay salaries of workers still in their employment, nor former government workers who have left public employment.
The problem of owing pensioners their entitlements is a timeworn problems in the country, but has worsened lately due to the shortage in revenue accruing to the federal government caused by the shortfall in crude oil revenue.
