By HILARY AKALUGWU

Local government and primary schools pensioners in Enugu State have besieged Catholic and Anglican churches to pray for divine intervention on the payment of their entitlements.

Acting on the platform of the Forum of Local Government and Primary School Pensioners in Enugu State (FLGPSP) they appealed to the state government on Tuesday to pay their pension arrears.

Coordinator of the forum in Enugu North senatorial district, Mr Patrick Agbo, and the Secretary, Mr George Ugwu, made the appeal in a statement issued in Nsukka.

They said copies of the statement had been given to all Catholic and Anglican bishops in Enugu State for them to help to pray for God’s immediate intervention.

They claimed that some members of the forum were being owed arrears of pensions and gratuity since 2000.

“Members are dying in agony due to non-payment of statutory arrears and gratuities.

“Some of the retirees who started this struggle with us have died and some are bed-ridden as a result of suffering and hardships.

“Those of us alive can’t feed our families; our children can no longer go to school because we are unable to pay their school fees.

“Our family members now treat us with disrespect because we can’t take care of our responsibilities,” they stated.

The forum urged Enugu State Government to do the needful and pay the arrears of pension and gratuities since the pensioners had done all the necessary verifications.

The pensioners expressed concern that in spite the fact that every local government remitted money to Enugu State Local Government Pensions Board, pensioners were still being owed.

“As at now we are owned 19 months of pension arrears and 16 years of gratuity,” the forum officials stated. (NAN)

Update news