Odii’s N100,000 Gifts to EBSU Retirees Humanitarian Aid, Not Pension — Ebonyi Govt

From Nabob Ogbonna, Abakaliki

The Ebonyi State Government has described the N100,000 reportedly given to retired workers of the state-owned Ebonyi State University (EBSU) by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Chukwuma Odii, as humanitarian assistance and not payment of pension or gratuity.

Some retired staff members of EBSU had visited Odii to present their grievances over alleged unpaid statutory pensions and gratuities owed them by the institution.

Addressing journalists, the Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Barrister Ikenna Omebeh, said the intervention by the PDP governorship candidate was strictly humanitarian in nature and aimed at alleviating the hardship faced by the retirees.

He, however, cautioned against presenting the assistance as payment of pension or gratuity, stressing that the two were fundamentally different.

“A donation of N100,000 to a retiree is humanitarian assistance; it is not the payment of that retiree’s pension or gratuity. The two are fundamentally different matters.
“This is because pension and gratuity claims require verification of service records, determination of legitimate entitlements, identification of the responsible institution or authority, and compliance with applicable financial and legal procedures,” he said.

The commissioner acknowledged that the state government was working on a legal framework to institutionalise the payment of pensions and gratuities for eligible university retirees.

He added that the welfare of the university’s retired workers should not be subjected to political contestation, stressing the need for such matters to be addressed through established institutional and legal processes.

Omebeh also disclosed that Governor Francis Nwifuru had earlier this year approved the payment of not less than N3 billion in pension arrears to state and local government retirees covering the period from 1996 to 2025.

According to him, the payment was being implemented through a structured verification process designed to establish the legitimacy of claims and ensure that eligible retirees receive their entitlements.

He urged the PDP and other stakeholders with additional information on the matter to provide details of the affected retirees, the amounts allegedly owed and the legal or institutional basis of the claims to the appropriate authorities.

“If Dr. Odii and the PDP have additional information establishing the precise number of affected retirees, the individual amounts owed, the basis of each claim and the institution legally responsible for settlement, such information should be made available to the appropriate authorities.
“Governor Francis Nwifuru remains committed to workers’ welfare, and the administration will continue to address legitimate retirement-benefit claims through appropriate institutional and verification processes,” he said.