Godwin Akor, Makurdi
The problem of pensioners in Benue state started when Senator George Akume was the governor of Benue state. At that time, pensioners were owed for few months while gratuity owed them was to the tune of about one to two billion naira. As a pensioner, each time the retirees demonstrated and deposited a casket at the gate of government house to indicate that some of their colleagues had died, Akume expressed deep regrets and promised commitment to the enhancement of their welfare
When Gabriel Suswam ascended the throne, he paid pensioners the increase workers enjoyed when salaries were increased but gratuities had risen to over N9 billion. He however made payment of salaries and pension a priority until crisis in global oil prices began to set in. Before he left the scene in 2015, pensioners and workers were being owed six and four months arrears respectively. He had hinted that his successor was going to face difficulties in the payment of salaries and pension due to oil glut. He had also said that there would be consequent downturn in the nation’s economy.
By the time Governor Samuel Ortom assumed office, the economy was beginning to show ominous signs of weakness due to drastic reduction in the prices of oil. Ortom received a bailout of N28 billion from the Federal Government but it was not enough for him to clear arrears of salaries and pension not to talk of gratuities which was increasing yearly because of retirement of workers. Consequently, he cleared the arrears of salaries of workers and later paid three months out of the six months pension arrears he inherited from Suswam.
Even as other palliatives that would have enabled Ortom to tackle the problem of workers salaries and pension came from the Federal Government, attacks by militia herdsmen made the economic situation to be more difficult as the generation of internal revenue could not be enhanced. Most of the towns and villages had been occupied by herdsmen who made more than 13 local government areas to be deserted by the indigenes. Militia herdsmen massacred the people in dozens and occupied their homes, destroyed some harvested crops and used the rest to feed their cattle. This was when arrears of pension started accumulating and salary payment began to attract fresh challenges.
As the payment of monthly pension began to be a herculean task due to drop in oil prices and insecurity, pensioners saw the issue of gratuity as a matter that had to wait. They saw that federal allocation to states between 2015 and 2019 had declined to the extent that workers begin to sympathize with the state government. This explains why workers in Benue state have not embarked on strike since Governor Ortom became governor in 2015. When pensioners were not properly fed with information on the finances of the state, they embarked on peaceful protest but after that, they began to discuss their predicaments directly with government officials. In fact, the communication gap between pensioners and the state government was drastically reduced.
Workers and pensioners are aware that they are being owed arrears of salaries and monthly pension which the Ortom administration has planned to clear with a bond of N40 billion. The governor has explained at every fora that efforts would be intensified towards accessing the bond before the second quarter of the year 2020. Some persons had speculated that the bond had been accessed but sources to the state government told The Nigerian Xpress that it was not true. It was gathered that government officials and the consortium of banks met recently to fine tune conditions for the facility.
In a letter written to the governor on May 22, 2019, concerned pensioners in Benue state said pension arrears for those that retired at the state and local government levels was so much and appealed that part of it be paid to them. At that time, the leader of. concerned pensioners told journalists that an arrangement had been made between the pensioners and the governor who promised that as soon as salaries were paid, pension would be paid. This arrangement calmed the nerves of pensioners whose fate hanged completely on the arrangement they made with the state’s chief executive last year. The spread of COVID-19 and the consequent fall of oil prices in the international market are the issues to worry about now as the pensioners wait for urgent actions to be taken by the Benue state government which recently established the State’s Pension Commission, PENCOM, which has worked out modalities that would help workers to key into the contributory pension scheme. In the arrangement, the state government and workers are to contribute 10 and eight percent respectively to the scheme. Chairman of the commission, Mr. Terna Ahua, has expressed so much hope in the scheme which Governor Ortom recently flagged off at the government house.
The implication of the contributory pension scheme is that as from the year 2020, workers would no longer face the problem of payment of pension as their benefits would be paid from the contributory pension scheme.
In Benue state, salary and pension arrears as well as gratuity are the immediate challenges of the Samuel Ortom administration which was inaugurated in May 2015. It is a known fact that within the first four years of the Ortom administration, security problems made the challenges to be so serious. When pensioners moved from their houses to the entrance of government house, Ortom who was away from the state on official assignment expressed so much concern about their plight. He told them that efforts would be intensified towards clearing their arrears. The pensioners who had insisted that three months arrears must be paid across board later succumbed to pressure from well meaning individuals and left government house after reaching agreement with the governor that pensioners would be paid as soon as workers were paid.
Chairman of concerned pensioners, Peter Ikyado, had told journalists after the agreement was reached that pension had also been put on first line charge but since then, federal allocation has been declining. Government sources said there may be light at the end of the tunnel because many workers are retiring while the wage bill for the state which was about N7 billion may have reduced as a result of several screening exercises carried out by the Engr. Benson Abounu (deputy governor) committee.
Governor Samuel Ortom had explained while presenting the 2020 budget estimates to the House of Assembly that N50.6 billion would be expended on personnel cost this year. The implication of the estimated N50.6 billion personnel cost for this year is that total personnel cost for each of the 12 months in 2020 would be a little over N4 billion. No one, however knows if the totality of monthly pension for the year was included in the wage bill proposed in the 2020 budget estimates.
As one gives kudos to Governor Ortom for trying to reduce the wage bill through the proper screening of workers carried out by his deputy, he is being enjoined to ensure that he abides by the agreement he signed with concerned pensioners. It is being suggested also that as he continues to struggle to make good the agreement, may he not allow the senior citizens to stage another protest.
Governor Ortom needs to be encouraged to be interacting with labour leaders, leaders of pensioners and other stakeholders on the position of things at intervals in line with the suggestion made by late Chief Obande Obeya (the Oyame K’Idoma)
Benue has a governor whose transparency and concern for his people on issues relating to dwindling federal allocation, crash in oil prices, economic downturn and insecurity made them to vote for him to return to office in 2019. There is the hope that in 2020, the state’s finances may improve with the appointment of a tax expert, Mr. Andrew Ayabam, as the chairman of the state’s revenue board. Governor Ortom had stated on the day he presented the 2020 budget estimates to the House of Assembly, that an airport would be built within two years at the cost of N11 billion. He had explained that money for the project would be generated internally by the revenue board. Any one that witnessed the astronomical rise in revenue generation when Ayabam was chairman of the revenue board during the Suswam administration would not doubt what Ortom said but the governor should know that what brought a snag into Ayabam’s good plans for the state at that time was the struggle by some people that the board should operate under the Ministry of Finance.
The snag now is that the crash in the oil prices occasioned by Coronavirus and other uncertainties may make efforts of the revenue board to be just a drop in the ocean as federal allocations may become so low in view of the fact that budget estimates would likely be reviewed at all levels.
Pensioners in Benue state may have been waiting patiently for government action. For now, Governor Ortom is in the position to determine what their plight would be. A little effort in the face of undaunting security and economic challenges may make a difference in their lives.
