By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Chairman of Anambra State Pensioners Union, Anthony Ugozor, has decried the non-payment of gratuities to its members for four years

Speaking in Awka on Sunday, Ugozor said the retirees would hold a meeting early next year to decide on the line of action.

He threatened that the retirees in the state may take the option of a hunger strike over unpaid gratuities.

Ugozor said: “The State Government is owing pensioners in the state four years arrears of gratuities. The retirees would hold a meeting early next year to take a decision on the matter.

“We don’t know what to do on this again. You know you are longer in active service, so government is treating our matter with levity because it knows we can no longer embark on industrial dispute.

“We may consider hunger strike after our meeting. The only problem we may have about hunger strike is whether it will not be detrimental to our health at our age. But members will decide that in our meeting.

“I got my December pension before Christmas. We thank Governor Willie Obiano for that; he pays pension regularly, but pension is not all that the pensioners need. We are dying in piecemeal, the governor should pay us our gratuities.”

According to Ugozor, the state government had not paid the gratuity of any retiree in the state since 2017.