Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has ordered a probe of alleged non-payment of pensions to retirees in the state for five years under his predecessor, Chief Timipre Sylva.
The accumulated pensions are estimated at over N4billion.
Dickson, speaking during the 14th edition of the state’s Transparency Briefing in Yenagoa said government is interested in getting to the root of the non-payment of the pension between 2007 and 2012.
Sylva became governor in 2007 but lost out in his bid to secure a second term in office.
An 11-man Financial Management and Review Committee established by Dickson and chaired by Timi Alaibe had in April 2012 indicted Sylva of mismanaging the N660.45bn the state received from the Federation Account from 2007 to 2011.
Besides, Sylva is also facing trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations bordering on financial fraud.
Dickson who was disturbed at the development said it was unacceptable that people were owed pensions for five years after rendering services to the state.
He put the arrears of unpaid pensions his administration inherited from the past at over N4bn.
In a bid to offset the arrears, he said his administration has, in the spirit of its restoration agenda, begun setting aside N250m monthly to tackle the issue.
According to him, a committee he set up to handle the problem has already reduced the backlog by over N1bn.
The governor was obviously upset that despite his efforts, some “misguided retirees” took to the streets earlier this month to protest their neglect”.
Following the development, Dickson said he has decided to establish a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate what he referred to as the mess his administration has been battling to clean up the debt.
He said officials indicted by the commission for failing to live up to their official responsibilities would be punished.
He said: “We have to address the pitiable backlog of gratuities and pension payment in this state at the time we came in. Those who have served meritoriously and retired were owed pensions and gratuities of over N4bn.
“They have not been paid since 2007. Now that is not acceptable. I have said so over and over. We have started the process of putting some money aside to offset the backlog.
“There is a committee set up chaired by the Head of Service and I have given them over N1bn to pay. I was told that some misguided elements tried to make politics out of it some few days back.
“Some people were here some five years, they didn’t pay retirees, now we are working out to clear the mess, yet some pensioners allowed themselves to be misguided.
“For this month, we have set aside N250m. But I am going to do something more as a result of those retires. I am going to set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate those who have the duty to pay pensioners and gratuities but they did not do so.”
Dickson said the state got a total inflow of N19.9bn but had a balance of N10bn after paying all liabilities.
But he lamented the continuous servicing of loans and bonds borrowed by the previous administration.
No comments:
Post a Comment