Godwin Akor, Makurdi
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state Monday apologised to workers, both serving and retired, on behalf of his administration and previous administrations in the state for their inability to find lasting solutions to the pension problems in the the past years.
Ortom tendered the apology when he flagged off the contributory pension scheme at the Government House, Makurdi, today (Monday).
He said one of the most unpleasant realities his administration met at the inception of his duty as governor of Benue State was the huge pension liabilities inherited from previous administrations in the State.
The governor noted that the pension problem was competing for attention with the humanitarian crisis arising from the perennial herders’ attacks as well as other challenges of development and governance.
According to him, it was sad that the challenges coupled with the huge shortfalls from the state’s revenue sources and Federal allocation made things difficult for a breakthrough.
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He said as the state was grappling with the difficult choice of which challenges to prioritize, the occasional demonstration on the streets by the elderly retired workers in pursuit of their retirement benefits served as a constant reminder that even as there were serious other challenges of governance and development, the pension problem of the State was one issue that his administration must find solutions to.
“Indeed, our initial efforts to address the pension problem through structured payments proved hopelessly inadequate”, Ortom added.
“The more we released funds for the settlement of the pension liabilities, the more the liabilities grew”, he further noted.
“We have finally come to the conclusion that the Contributory Pension Scheme is the best solution to the State’s pension problem,”, the governor maintained.
The governor said one of the measures his administration is taking to raise funds to pay for some of the Contributory Pension Scheme costs and also pay the entitlements of workers exempted from the Scheme when they retire is to create a Special Fund to be invested in interest yielding instruments.
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“For efficiency and efficacy, the Benue State Internal Revenue Service working in consultation with the State Pension Commission has been mandated to identify some revenue items from which funds are to be raised and dedicated to the Special Pension Fund,” he maintained.
Earlier, in a welcome address, Chairman, Benue State Pension Commission, Mr. Terna Ahua, noted that the delay and non-payment of pensions and gratuities had brought about untold hardship to pensioners in the state.
He said the coming of the pension scheme would provide a permanent solution to pension issues and stressed that the law provides for the state and local governments to contribute 10 percent of monthly emoluments of a worker while the worker pays only eight percent.
It was gathered that Governor Ortom has been working tirelessly to drastically reduce monthly pension arrears and gratuities which have been piling up since 2017.
It was in pursuit of the means to find lasting solutions that he established the State’s Pension Commission which has a a former head of service, Mr. Terna Ahua, as chairman.
