Cross Rivers civil servants are retiring to poverty as government defaults on pension payment, squanders money on frivolities

UPON the successful completion of his two terms of eight years as governor, Ben Ayade of Cross River State will receive 300 per cent of his annual basic salary as severance gratuity.

This is apart from other allowances like hardship, constituency allowance, newspaper, furniture, medical, security, entertainment and vehicle maintenance among others.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUR5_3w6otQ

Meanwhile, five thousand retired civil servants in Cross River State have not been given their pension entitlements from the state government – a violation of section 210 of the 1999 constitution which concerns the protection of pension rights.

In February 2017, senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on prosecutions, Okoi Obono-Obla accused the Cross River State government of misappropriating N19 billion that it received as a bailout fund to pay outstanding salaries, pensions, and gratuities.

It goes back to 2015 when President Muhammadi Buhari had approved the sum of N338bn for 27 states as part of efforts to end the lingering problem of unpaid workers’ salaries, which had escalated into a crisis. Cross River State was given N7.8 billion in July 2016 and another N11.5 billion as bailout funds.

But a report on the monitoring of state bail-out funds released in 2016 by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and the Nigeria Labour Congress showed that the Cross River State misappropriated federal funds.

The report showed that out of the N7,856,400,000.00 it received, it had only disbursed N3,140,883,040.77 with a balance of N4,715,516,959,23, claiming not to have outstanding salaries for workers as of November 19, 2015.

Cross River State also received N19.25 billion, including 12.15 billion as the first tranche and N6.75 billion as the second tranche as Paris Club refund, a settlement of long-standing claims by state governments relating to over-deductions from their federation account allocation committee (FAAC) allocation to service the debts. Altogether, the state received over N38.2 billion as bailout and Paris Club refunds.

However, there is yet no explanation as to what the funds were used for. The Senate Committee on States and Local Government Administration and the Organised Labour have asked the government to explain how it expended the fund. The Cross River State chapter of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) had vowed to probe Ayade over the fund. That was before he moved into the party.

In 2017, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) embarked on an investigation into how the Cross River State government applied the Paris Club loan refunds paid to it by the federal government. The commission has been contacted for comment.

In a swift reaction to the allegations by Obono-Obla in 2017, the chief press secretary to the Ayade, Christian Ita said that the bailout funds were still intact. “Not a kobo of the funds which are lodged in the state government account with the UBA has been touched, “he said. “The governor has directed that the funds be used to pay severance allowances to past political office holders and clear outstanding gratuity to retirees”.

Struggling to get by
James Essien struggles to pay his apartment rent of N400,000 a year. Sometimes, he borrows more money than he earns from his pension to be able to pay rent and other dues. Whenever the money comes, he uses everything to pay for debt and starts borrowing again.

“We are helpless and hopeless, some of us have been forced to withdraw our children from school because they cannot pay their fees, “said Essien. “Some have terminal sicknesses, and they cannot take care of themselves”.

In 1979, when he started work in the civil service, Essien hoped that he would build a house for his family in the village and own a flourishing business upon retirement. In October 2014, 35 years later, he retired from the ministry of women’s affairs as the director of administration. As a director, he explained he was entitled to a gratuity of N6 million naira, which was supposed to come immediately after he retired.

But eight years after he left active service, Essien is yet to receive his gratuity. At 63, he only depends on his monthly pension of N135,000, which he says does not come regularly. Sometimes, he waits for two months before he gets one. His 32-year-old daughter was discharged this October after his children contributed N250,000 and paid her hospital bill. He could not afford the bills. She was losing blood.

“I look like a failure among some of my friends because I have nothing to show for the years I spent working for the state, “he said. “I looked forward to a better life after work”.

Essien hails from Ekori in Yakurr LG. He shares a two-bedroom apartment in a tree-lined estate in Calabar with one of his daughters and his wife.

To keep his family running, every month, Essien spends 75,000 on food, N6000 on light and N2000 on water. He also spends N4000 for his TV cable subscription service and N12,000 on fuel. Sometimes, he spends more, all from his irregular pension of N135,000.

The Sub Treasury of the office of the Accountant General of the state, which handles the verification and documentation for payment of pension and gratuity, Daniel, said that they usually receive complaints from retirees who are not paid even after they have been cleared.

“Most of them are old and sick, yet they come here in their thousands every year for screening and nothing changes,” he said. “A former Chief judge in the state once called to complain that he was yet to receive his pension since September”.

Between August 2016 and February 2017, the Association of Cross River State Local Government Pensioners claimed that 28 of their members died from circumstances related to financial challenges arising from the non-payment of their pension entitlements.

In Ekori, where James hails from, at least three retirees have died without receiving their entitlements. He said that retirees die because they cannot care for themselves. Out of 50 retired permanent secretaries, as of 11th August 2015, at least 12 have reportedly died without receiving their outstanding benefits.

Last year, an investigation revealed that after the state government had declared people ‘dead’ and stopped disbursing pensions, retirees were told to prove that they were still alive. A worker at the office of the state auditor-general said the office is now trying to resolve the issue of dead pensioners which was published by the accountant-general because some of them have come back to prove that they were not dead.

Several protests, little results

On the morning of November 3 2020, about 50 retirees blocked the Murtala Mohammed Highway in the Calabar metropolis in protest over the non-payment of their wages.

The workers sat in the middle of the road, with their documents in their hands and some of them carrying placards that read: “Governor Ayade pay our pension and gratuities”, “pensioners are dying due to non-payment of pension and gratuities” and “Ayade harmonise pension”.

One year after, the workers protested again after their demands were unmet. This time, they blocked the entrance to the Calabar Government House as they protested the non-payment of their benefits by the state government.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/cross-rivers-civil-servants-are-retiring-to-poverty-as-government-defaults-on-pension-payment-squanders-money-on-frivolities/

No be them still vote am in as PDP? Now he's converted to APC. Okowa dey one side with e own

This is just the tip of Ayade's gross mismanagement.

The man is not fit to manage a provision store .

He has never completed one single project before jumping into another useless one that is meant to be a white elephant project.

This man is by far the worst governor.

Even Bello and Ikpeazu try pass this clown.

His defection to APC was to avoid prosecution .

He is a vagabond and a thief .

A very big disappointment who has destroyed Cross River state.

Creamypie:
No be them still vote am in as PDP? Now he's converted to APC. Okowa dey one side with e own

See PDP has a policy of rotation in states like Delta , Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers.

Ayade is the third governor from the north .

Imoke is from central and Duke from the south.

PDP did not want to give him the ticket but sensing that this may infuriate the northern tribes to vote APC they retained him on the ballot for a second term only for him to defect less than a year after he won reelection


The PDP Cross River and that on the national level are even relieved that he is gone .

Ayade thinks he can sneak a southern cross river candidate under APC but he will be shocked.