By Milicent Onaga, Enugu
Enugu Retirees from various parastatals have appealed to the State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to graciously direct the commencement of payment of their entitlements in order to save them from untimely death.
The retirees claimed that they have been struggling to have a square-meal-a-day which has been difficult because of inability to access their pension entitlements many years after their retirements.
Affected are those who retired from the State’s Library Board, Daily Star Newspaper, Water Corporation, Rural Electrification Board, Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS), Arts and Culture and Tourism Board among others.
The pensioners in a statement signed on their behalf by Mr. Ferdinand Okonkwo, expressed gratitude to the Governor for making it possible for them to undergo verification and biometric capturing early this year, adding they were full of expectation.
According to them, “We are very happy that the Governor, Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi sometime in February this year directed that retired staff of these parastatals of Enugu State be verified and captured biometrically, so that government could start paying our deserved entitlements. Since then, we have been waiting patiently to receive alert to assuage our pains and predicament, but to no avail.
The group said, “As a result, we have been subjected to excruciating experience and frustration, with harsh conditions of living afflicting us. Many of our colleagues have died of hunger, sickness without accessing their pension entitlements.
Worse still is that we have been faced with severe difficulty of securing medical care for members of our respective families and dependants, thereby making us more vulnerable to diseases and deaths.”
The retires therefore urged Ugwuanyi to exploit the milk of kindness in him to rescue them from perishing, recalling how the Governor raised their hope during the last Worker’s Day celebration at Okpara Square, where he expressed the concern of his administration to address problems of parastatals in the State.
“We need to survive this turbulent period. We need to feed our family, and take care of our health needs. Besides, we need to pay School fees for our children. As senior citizens who served our fatherland meritoriously, we have no other means of livelihood except to fall back on our pension. So we beg our amiable governor to make it possible for us to start receiving our due entitlements.”