Otti Brightens Easter Celebration for Abia Retirees, Clears 9 Years Pension Arrears

Nine years of agony and gloom are finally over for the retired employees of Abia State government as Governor Alex Otti has kept his campaign promise of clearing the accumulated pension by past governments.

Tears of joy flowed from the senior citizens on Thursday as they started receiving credit alert messages of varying amounts of money with some getting as much as N1.8 million and even more.

The governor had on Thursday morning revealed that the retirees were going to smile before the close of work.

He was addressing the congregation at Christ the King Catholic Church(CKC), Aba, where he had joined the priests and the faithful to celebrate Chrism Mass and renewal of priestly vows.

"Some of you (pensioners) have been owed since 2014. At the end of today (Thursday) all of you will smile. Check your accounts at the end of business today," Otti assuredly announced.

And true to his words, credit alert messages started flying all over Abia and beyond depending on the location of each pensioner at the time the cheering messages arrived, indicating that the long awaited money had entered their accounts.

Confirming the cheering development yesterday, the state Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners(NUP), Comrade Chukwuemeka Irondi, said that "many people have told me they have received arrears".

Irondi, who was speaking on a radio programme in Umuahia, poured encomiums on the Abia governor for fulfilling his promise to the pensioners.

He said that "we followed him" in the 2023 general election because of his promise to clear the pension arrears.