The Enugu state government says it has begun payment of pensions arrears to 7,109 verified local government retirees in the state.

The secretary to the state government (SSG), Chidiebere Onyia, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Enugu.

He said the payment was in line with the promise of the Gov. Peter Mbah’s administration to clear outstanding pensions and gratuities inherited by the administration.

Mr Onyia stated that over 7,000 local government pensioners had since received some payments following the governor’s approval of the recommendations of the local government pensioners biometric verification committee.

According to him, Mr Mbah’s administration is poised to eradicate poverty in the state by clearing inherited backlog of pensions and other liabilities.

“This will improve our people’s standard of living, raise purchasing power and promote strong and sustainable economic growth in the state,” he said.

He added that a total of 7,109 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.

The SSG decried the level of fraud in the pensions system, and disclosed that the record provided by the Local Government Pensions Board indicated that the state had been paying 8,760 local government retirees as of April 2024 against the 7,109 verified pensioners.

Restating the state’s commitment to clear all arrears, Mr 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.

“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 digitalise the institution with measures that would make every transaction and payment transparent, accountable and traceable,” Mr Onyia added.

(NAN)