The Enugu State government has revealed that its payroll contained a significant number of ghost and deceased pensioners, totaling 2,640. In addition to this discovery, the government has also initiated the payment of pensions to local government retirees within the state.
The announcement was made by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Professor Chidiebere Onyia, during a press briefing in Enugu. He emphasized that these actions are in direct alignment with Governor Peter Mbah’s administration’s commitment to addressing the outstanding pensions and gratuities inherited from previous administrations.
Professor Onyia stated that over 7,000 local government pensioners have already received their pension payments. This disbursement followed Governor Mbah’s approval of the recommendations presented by the Local Government Pensioners Biometric Verification Committee, which was responsible for conducting the verification process.
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The SSG said: “Recall that the governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, had earlier promised that his administration was poised to eradicate poverty in the state by clearing the inherited backlog of pensions and other liabilities, and also keep up with its current fiscal responsibility to the citizens, among other measures.
”This will improve our people’s standard of living, raise purchasing power and promote strong and sustainable economic growth in the state.”
He added that a total of 7109 local government pensioners received monthly payments of close to half a billion naira in July, including “989 newly captured entrants who retired between April 2022 and April 2024 but were not accommodated in the pension scheme.“
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The SSG, who frowned at the level of fraud in the pensions system, said the record provided by the Local Government Pensions Board indicated that the state had been paying over 8,760 local government retirees as of April 2024, against the 7109 verified pensioners.
“Restating the state’s commitment to clear all arrears, Prof Onyia stressed that the payment mode adopted by the state would guarantee that backlogs were phased out within the timeline set out by the government.
“This administration will continue to support our citizens, particularly our senior citizens, who dedicated their time and energy serving the state.
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“We will soon phase out all arrears inherited by the administration. We are reforming the pensions system through strong institutional policies that would make it difficult for corrupt elements to find their way into the scheme.
”We have been able to digitalize the institution with measures that would make every transaction and payment transparent, accountable and traceable,” he added.
