By Lawrence Njoku (Enugu)
In a bid to cushion the effects of subsidy removal and raise the purchasing power of vulnerable citizens of Enugu State, Governor Peter Mbah, yesterday, inaugurated a committee on Verification and Payment of Outstanding Pensions and Gratuities to State Retirees.
The seven-man committee is chaired by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, and has the Head of Service, Kenneth Ugwu; Accountant General of the state, Anthony Okenwa and Special Adviser to the governor on Public Finance Management, Prof. Obiamaka Egbo, as members.
Others are the state Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Ben Asogwa; state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Fabian Nwigbo, and the Chairman, Public Service Joint Negotiating Council, Ezekiel Omeh.
Inaugurating the committee at the Government House, Enugu, Mbah said the step was in keeping with his campaign promise to clear pension and gratuity arrears, adding that the combined effects of the payments and the regular monthly pensions and gratuities would inject billions of naira into the state’s economy on a monthly basis .
Mbah said: “In line with our campaign promise, and to help cushion the immediate and short-term effects of the removal of subsidy, it is my honour to inaugurate this committee on Verification and Payment of Outstanding Pensions and Gratuities to State Retirees, with the mandate to “determine and verify outstanding two-month pension arrears to state retirees; determine and verify outstanding gratuities owed to state retirees; conduct all payments according to months and years of retirement of officers from service and render monthly and quarterly reports to the Secretary to the State Government in respect of all payments.
“We did say that our vision is to eradicate poverty in the state. And we are also mindful that for us to achieve that, we must target policies that are designed to get to our vulnerable ones. We believe that the best way to deal with the tensions and fragilities is by making sure the root causes of insecurity are dealt with. For us, that means we have to ensure that there is sufficient funds injected into the system, which can cascade down, and our people will have purchasing power.
“We also know that the recent policy fuel subsidy removal will certainly have some impacts on our most vulnerable ones.
“It is, therefore, the state government’s policy to ensure that we put in place measures, immediate, short, medium and long-term, to address the impact.”
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