I was at the Governor’s Office the other day to bring attention to the non-payment of my late father’s benefits and gratuity after he had put in 32 years of faithful service to the state and died as a school principal a few months before he was due for retirement.
Following his sad death, I commenced processing the papers for payment of his benefits, completed it in 2017 and received official approval in January 2018. After waiting for another year and no payment was made to my family by the government, I approached the Accountant General of the State about the matter but he told me that no payment was being considered and that there is a backlog of pending payments stretching back to 2014, all awaiting the governor’s approval.
Following this disclosure, I attempted several times to bring the governor’s attention to the issue but all messages to that effect were unanswered. My family has been facing hard times since the death of our father who was the breadwinner.
My two immediate younger sisters at different levels of study in the university are on the verge of dropping out while the third who passed WAEC and JAMB exams this year faces an uncertain future due to our financial incapacitation.
I make this public appeal to Governor Benedict Ayade to kindly let my family have the chance to lead a decent life by giving the authorization for us to be paid.
Joseph Odey, Calabar
