By CHARLES IWUOHA

Abandoned Ebonyi State retired civil servants who are yet to receive their retirement benefits have called on the state governor, Rt. Hon. Francis Nwifuru, to save them from dying on account of hunger following the economic hardship faced by the nation.

The affected retirees who expressed dismay, said they were assured by Governor Nwifuru since September 2023 that their gratuities and accumulated pensions would be paid by December 2023, but have not gotten anything.

According to the retirees, they had been suffering throughout the eight years of former governor David Umahi, before Nwifuru decided to start addressing the matter.

The first citizens of the state noted that some are already developing cold feet, adding that why is it that immediately it reached them, the whole exercise stopped again.

Some of the affected retirees who spoke to News Express in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, on Saturday, praised Gov Nwifuru for raising their hopes but appealed to him to remember his assurance he made to them as they were still expecting to be paid like others.

News Express gathered that the committee set up by the State Government to pay the gratuities and pensions owed the retirees when the state was created, from 1996 to 2021, headed by Professor Adeline Idike only succeeded in paying the retirees who were screened in November and Dec 2022.

But since then, nothing has been heard about the Adeline Idike Committee which appears to have wound up, thereby raising fears that the remaining retirees yet to be paid may have been forgotten once again.

All efforts made to speak with the state Head of Service, Mrs Rita-Mary Okoro, on matter was unsuccessful.

Update news