Delta retirees raise alarm over alleged plan to deduct N4million each from members’ gratuity benefits

Association of Contributory Retirees (ACR), Delta state chapter have raised alarm and declined what it called alleged plans by the state Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), “to extort the sum of N4 million each from our members from the N40 billion loan to offset our backlog of gratuities and other pension entitlements.”

Delta state government had ordered the leaders of the state ALGON to secure a bank loan of N40 billion to offset the backlog of debts owed retired primary schools teachers and local government workers in the state.

The loan which was secured last month is said to have started generating dispute between the leadership of ALGON and ACR, that the retirees rejected the loan following the alleged planned deduction of N4 million each from the pensioners.

The association called on the state governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, to as a matter of urgency and importance intervene and call ALGON to order and stop what they described as the “evil venture” the local government council chairmen have embarked on.

A communique issued by the Association at the end of its emergency general meeting on Wednesday, signed by the Association’s chairperson, Mrs. Ejieh Helen Chionye and the secretary respectively, called on the state ALGON to return the N40 billion “purported to have been borrowed to pay part of the N54 billion backlog of gratuities of retirees, if ALGON insist on going ahead with the evil plan of extorting four million naira from each retiree’s take home pay.”

It read: “Nothing will fall short of our full take home pay, having already been aware of the existing financial records template of each retiree in the system and hence, once more, we call on Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to ensure that the Bureau of Local Government should continue payment of retirees as usual since ALGON can no longer be trusted. We ask ALGON to without further delay, remit N5.9 billion unremitted deductions from 2015 to 2017, to the Bureau of Local Government to enable the Bureau pay more retirees. A presumed gang up to delay and or defraud retirees of their pension benefits.

“At a meeting convened by ALGON at the office of the SSG, last Friday, during which we discovered that our gratuity/pension benefits have been cut short of our expectations, showing take home sums that are very much less than what our counterparts received just a month ago.

“Whereas the office of Auditor General of the state has availed us the content of our take home, which is normal and reflexive of our expectations, a consultant engaged by ALGON, in a bid to defraud us, faulted the existing template and came out with a new template that indicates a short fall of four million from each retiree. We reject that arrangement in its entirety because it is not only suspicious, dubious, illegal, fraudulent but also inhuman.”

 “We know that our governor is not aware of this plot, no responsible government will support this evil venture. This Government is less than 100 days in office, are you telling us that the predecessors of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori did not know what they were doing when they paid retirees of the state their full benefits?.”

The communique copied the state governor, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Secretary to the State Government, Auditor General of the State, Head of Service, ALGON, Commissioner of Police, Department of State Service (DSS), EFCC, NLC, NUT and NULGE.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Ika North East council and state chairman of Association of Local Government of Nigeria, (ALGON),Victor Ebonka, responding to the allegations, swiftly denied it saying its “Majority of the retirees calculated their gratuities while still in service, normally, 35 years of service or 60 years of age is the retirement time for civil servants by law but some of them calculated theirs at 45 years while still in service and it’s criminal to do such. I think we are ready for them, we will stop all payment since they are ready to fight, let’s do the fight now.”