Resisting Moves to Weaponise Pension Issues in Delta

While measures are ongoing for this current administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to liquidate the pension arrears it inherited, the government has at the same time, resisted moves by some political gladiators to weaponise it, Precious Ugwuzor reports

In what may not be a surprise to some stakeholders in Delta State, the vexatious issue of outstanding pensions to deserving retirees of the state and local governments may have been weaponised by some political gladiators in the state.

The confirmation of this development came after the state authorities accused the main opposition party in the state of polticising the issue on Monday.

Over a period of time demonstrators agitating against the failure of the Senator Ifeanyi Okowa government to liquidate the pension arrears it inherited have repeatedly been demonstrating against what they claim as the failure of the government to clear the entitlements.

Given Governor Ifenayi Okowa’s proclivity towards human capital development, the question of the pension burden is one that understandably question its commitment to a virile working class.

The controversy over the outstanding pension liabilities has especially gained ground since the commencement of the political season, even more fiercely since Governor Okowa emerged as the vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Perhaps it was not surprising that as he returned to Asaba after he was unveiled as the presidential running mate of the PDP in Abuja on June 24, Governor Okowa was quick to explain to the mammoth crowd that received him how his administration inherited a pension liability of N181Billion. Tho

“When we came into government in 2015, we were owing about N181 billion and reduced it to 86bn through reconciliation with the collaboration of HR consultants and representatives of Labour.

“We were able to investigate the sum and it eventually came down to about N86 billion and since then we have been paying N500 million monthly and we have paid over N34 billion over time.

“We have also made a provision of N20 billion from the proposed bridging finance to see what we can pay down for the past services,” he said.

However, his explanation and the efforts he had made in cutting down liabilities abandoned by his predecessors has apparently not settled well among some stakeholders.

Last Thursday, a group of protesters poured out into the streets in Asaba, the state capital to demand the payment of their pensions. What was touching to some, especially some top government officials was the use of foul language against the person of the governor by the demonstrators.

Whether it was that or its effort to communicate its achievements in clearing the liabilities it met in that sector, the state commissioner for information, Mr Charles Aniagwu on Monday addressed the press where he cleared the air on the issue.

However, in clearing the air, the commissioner introduced another dimension to the issue of the  pension controversy.

Apparently trying to claim that with the opposition finding nothing to campaign against the Okowa administration and the PDP that it had now resorted to polticising the pension debacle.

The commissioner gave as evidence of his claim the fact that the lady who led the recent protest on the unpaid pensions was a leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

He said that the Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa led government had since inception supported the local government councils in the state with funds to ensure payment of salaries and pensions to their workers.

He said since the state migrated from old pension scheme to the contributory pension scheme, government had been saddled with the huge burden of settling pension arrears for serving and retired workers.

“The burden of the payment of primary school teachers salaries and pension is that of local government authority and not the state government.

“The leader of the protest a retired teacher is also the female coordinator of APC from the Ndokwa nation of the state, but we know that the local government councils are in charge of their remuneration and pensions.

“This group will gather, lie down and try to cast aspersion on the person of Okowa. I have never seen where somebody will work in UAC and proceed to Leventis to receive salary,” he said.

He said that the state has over 1,250 primary schools, adding that many more teachers had to be employed to fill the gap which accounted for the huge burden on salaries and pension demand for teachers and other workers.

“Consequently, the workers were owed several months of salary arrears, so, Okowa looked at the situation and has assisted them with N600 million monthly to augment.

“And at other time we gave N3 billion grant to the local government councils to address the salaries issues to get them out of the woods.

” In the area of pension, we have been assisting the local government councils to meet their obligations; since inception, Okowa had on monthly basis released N150 million to the local government councils.

“After three years, we increased the pension support from N150 million to N300 million and to N500 million monthly to fast track the payment of the backlog pension owed local government workers including the primary school teachers in the state,” he said.

He added: “By this intervention, the state government has reduced the burden of pension arrears owed the local government workers to 2018 and for the primary school teachers, who were owed several years of pension, we have pushed it up to 2016.”

Aniagwu, said the state government was also ready to commit about N10 billion grant to the local government councils for pension matters in the state which informed the recent demand for N150 billion bridging finance.

Perhaps reflective of the efforts of the state administration in clearing the pension arrears, stakeholders point to the recent claim by the National Pension Commission, PENCOM that Delta State was only one of about five states actively contributing to the welfare scheme.

Given that preceding regimes helped to raise the mountain of unpaid pensions, it is the opinion of Mr Aniagwu that his government in the context of the proverbial lizard would clap for itself if no one else is clapping.

However, what may be of concern to some is that the genuine pain of some who have not been paid is now being used as a tool in the political arena.