While Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state has a hectic time pulling through the All Progressive Congress (APC) primaries in Imo state, other problems are springing up in the wings. Beyond the prevailing political debacle, Okorocha’s most disconcerting problem may be the recent blocking of the last tranche of the Paris Club refund due to Imo state.
Imo is one of the five states whose Paris Club Refund was embargoed for misapplication of the previous tranches of the Refund. A source in the organised labour in Imo state confided in our correspondent that the governors affected by the embargo are largely those that have not been paying salaries of workers and pensions.
According to him: “These governors which include our own governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, are in a fix right now.
The payment is structured in such a way that the National President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), will confirm the true status of payment of workers in the various states before the last tranche of the Paris Club Refund is remitted to the affected states. In the case of Imo, the organised labour maintains that monthly reports from Imo state contradict the governor’s claims of not owing workers’ salaries and pensions.”
While the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), recently compounded the governor’s problems by publishing the full indebtedness of the state government to pensioners which amounted to about N56.6 billion in unpaid pensions and gratuities, it also urged the Federal Government to administer the payment and defrayal of the debt by using its offices, as pension administration in Imo state, has totally collapsed.
Also, an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Association of Retired Permanent Secretaries in Imo state, dated 20th July, 2018 in unmistakable terms, drew the attention of the President to pitiable state of pension administration in Imo state under Governor Rochas Okorocha, adding that the governor has consistently defaulted in the payment of pensions and gratuities since the inception of his administration.
The petition which was signed by the Secretary of the association, Comrade Fabian Agba, read in part: “While some retired public servants are owed over seven years’ arrears of pension, there is no known record of payment of gratuities since Governor Rochas Okorocha assumed office as the Governor of Imo state.
” It continued: “It is painful that the frequency of death among retired persons in the state as at today is very alarming. The insensitivity of Governor Rochas Okorocha to this situation is manifest in his assertion that ‘the Pension profile of the state indicates that pensioners have not been dying since the creation of Imo state.”
While describing the governor’s statement as callous and devilish, the pensioners lamented the wasteful misappropriation of the bailout funds and Paris Clubs Refunds to the state.
The document read, “It is embarrassing that in spite of the efforts of the President to mitigate the suffering of retired workers by providing Paris Club Refunds and bailout funds, the Rochas Okorocha Government has persistently refused to apply these funds to the purposes they were meant for.
“Mr. President, what it would have taken to clear the arrears of gratuities and pensions in Imo state could only have constituted a small percentage of the funds, you sent to Imo. What is going on in pension administration in Imo state is only a minute part of the maladministration in Imo state in the last seven years.”
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