Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, has ordered immediate payment of April Salary Arrears owed to public workers in the state and payment of June pensions to retirees, some of whom were being owed upwards of 50 months by the immediate past administration.
The governor’s Chief Press secretary, Kazie Uko, who made the disclosure in a statement made available to newsmen, said the Governor gave the directive on Monday after a meeting of the Executive Council which had the Deputy Governor, Engr Ikechukwu Emetu, 16 newly sworn-in Commissioners, the Accountant General and other senior functionaries of the State in attendance.
“Dr. Otti directed the Accountant General to ensure that both the April 2023 salary arrears and the June pension are paid before the end of the week, despite the ongoing verification of pensioners and workers in the government payroll.”
He continued by saying that the payments are in fulfillment of governor’s campaign promise not to owe pensioners and those in service and to clear all outstanding verified debts.
The statement quoting the governor said, “I know government will be losing money by making these payments since verifications of workers and pensioners are still going on. So far, we have unearthed a lot of ghost names in our payroll but I also know there are a lot of genuine names there.
Governor Otti, while explaining the reason for his decision said, “What we are doing by making these payments, especially as it relates to pensioners, is to help mitigate the sufferings of genuine pensioners, who are mostly elderly and sickly and have had to endure untold hardship for so long.”