The Nigeria
Union of Pensioners (NUP), Enugu State Council, has honoured Gov. Ifeanyi
Ugwuanyi of Enugu State with an outstanding Award of Excellence as “A
Pensioner-friendly Governor”.
The pensioners
said that the honour done Gov. Ugwuanyi was in recognition of his good works in
the state and uncommon leadership qualities, which they added have enabled his
administration to pay their monthly pensions promptly in spite of the nation’s
economic challenges that have made it impossible for many state governments to
pay workers’ salaries, “not to talk of retirees’ pensions”.
Presenting the
award to the governor, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Labour
and Productivity, Barr Emeka Okeke, at the 2017 Annual Pensioners’ Day Celebration,
held in Enugu, the state Chairman of the Union, Comrade Damian Udeani, in his
address stated that “the retired civil servants in Enugu State are lucky to
have a Governor who cares”.
Comrade
Udeani said that Gov. Ugwuanyi “has been paying pensions regularly to this category of pensioners”, adding: “Recently,
retired primary school teachers were paid four months arrears of pension and
also some arrears of gratuities. You can imagine the number of sick pensioners
the payment of these arrears has saved from imminent death. For this, we say
kudos to our Pensioner-friendly Governor “.
The pensioners
appreciated the governor for approving the verification of state pensioners who
failed to participate in the last verification exercise organized by the state
government to audit the strength of the retirees, and urged those involved to “make
sure they do not miss the verification this time” that will last for two
months.
“As we go
into the year 2018, I enjoin our pensioners to be strong in prayers for
ourselves and for those in authority. I thank His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Dr.
Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for accepting our award of excellence”, the chairman
said.
Responding
on behalf of the governor, Barr Okeke thanked the pensioners for the award and assured
them of the state government’s commitment to improving their welfare.
The Labour
Commissioner informed the pensioners that the state government has set up a
committee headed by the Head of Service to look into the outstanding pension
arrears owed by the past administrations to retirees in some government
parastatals, such as the Enugu State Water Corporation and Enugu State
Broadcasting Service (ESBS) with a view to offsetting the said arrears.