A retired primary school teacher in Enugu State, Mr. Onyekachi Okolie, has called on the state government to pay him about 36 months pension arrears owed him, so as to take care of his health.
Okolie, in a petition, said he is terminally sick and needed the money to solve his health challenges.
According to him, his pension backlog accumulated from 2010 to March 2012 which has not been paid, while another backlog stretched from July 2018, when he said was the last month pensioners received payment in the state.
However, the State Executive Secretary of Local Government Pensions Board, Mr. Nana Ogbodo, described Okolie’s claim as outrageous.
Ogbodo said “It is curious, I can’t imagine any teacher being owed as much as three years except he is among the old teachers that were previously paid by Cabinet office. We inherited so much backlog arrears of pension but the Governor reduced it with Paris club refund.”
Okolie, the sick pensioner, in his petition said “I’m aware that the huge debts involved was not accumulated by the present government of the state alone, but Enugu state is in the hands of God and God does not tolerate oppression or denial in any form or guise.
“This is a desperate cry of a helpless man, who has problems money can solve but none is available. This has nothing to do with the opposition.
“Since these debts are owed, I have never cried out like this. I am this desperate because I am sick. My blood sugar is high, the same as my blood pressure and my prostate is enlarged.”