Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has apologised over his inability to keep an earlier promise to clear accumulated pension arrears in the state.
Beginning from his campaign period, the governor had repeatedly promised to clear the pension arrears by the end of 2023.
Mr Otti, on Monday during a state-wide broadcast to mark the New Year, tendered an apology for his failure to keep the promise.
The governor explained that the funds needed to clear the arrears were beyond what he had projected.
“Based on the figures available to us, we had arranged the funds to make good this promise. However, before making the payment, we decided to conduct a digital verification of the pensioners. To our utter shock, we found that there were pensioners who had been owed since.
“At the end of the exercise, just about a week ago, the total figure required for the payment was twice the amount we had provided,” he said.
Mr Otti, however, assured that he would fulfil the promise before the end of the first quarter of 2024 even if it would require his administration to go to the Abia House of Assembly to seek approvals.
Review of workers’ salaries
Mr Otti also hinted that, in line with his earlier promise, he would carry out an upward review of workers’ salaries in the state
“In the New Year as we had promised, we shall review the salaries of all the employees of the State Government upwards to reflect the economic realities of the time. Work on this is in the final stages,” he said.
‘Watershed moment’
The governor described 2023 as a watershed moment in the state’s political history and expressed confidence that the New Year “will be our year of consolidation on the gains made in the past seven months.”