THE Delta State government said it has released the sum of N5 billion for the payment of pension arrears to retirees in the state.
This was disclosed by the state commissioner for information, Charles Aniagwu via the State Government’s twitter handle on Tuesday, November 8.
Aniagwu stated that the sum of N2.5 billion was released for the payment of pension arrears for state pensioners, while N2.5 billion was also released as grant to Local Government Pensions Bureau for the payment of local government and primary school retirees.
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This development is coming five weeks after The ICIR published a two-part investigation on the non-payment of pensions to retired primary school teachers in Delta State.
The investigation titled: ‘In Delta, Okowa’s non-payment of primary school retirees is leading teachers to early graves’ detailed how school teachers are being neglected by the state government.
The report narrated how scores of retirees are battling life hardships, health challenges and emotional trauma due to loss of loved ones to hunger and illness over the non-payment of their pension.
The ICIR confirmed Delta’s indebtedness to the retirees in the 2021 annual report by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), published on June 22.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M