Don’t make political capital out of non-payment of gratuity to pensioners – Gov Emmanuel warns politicians

By Dennis Udoma, Uyo

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel has said that non-payment of workers’ gratuity is a national problem and warned politicians not to make political capital out of it in the state.

He said that even the federal government is also grappling with the challenge.

Mr. Emmanuel made the remark in his Christmas message to the people of the State on Saturday, to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.

According to him, “the issue of gratuity is a national problem. We are a mere subnational and even other higher layers of government are struggling with the issue of non-payment of gratuities.

“In spite of this, we have painstakingly continued to pay gratuities and remain committed to doing so. Part of what I did, within my first few months in office was to settle a backlog of such, between 2002 to 2011, and ever since, in spite of the paucity of funds, we have endeavoured to pay gratuities. People must not lose sense of the fact that we operate a three-tier Government structure: Federal, State and Local Government.

“Primary Education and Primary Health Care are under the Third Tier of Government and in spite of this we have regularly intervened in the payment of salaries and other benefits.

“I understand the political season is upon us, and thus the need by some people to score cheap political points, but we should not mislead our people with patent falsehood”.

The governor’s outburst came on the heels of criticisms of his administration’s inability to pay the retirement benefits of pensioners, whose outcries have become worrisome.

He said, apart from settling the backlog of gratuities, government also embarked on infrastructure development in line with his election promises and thanked the youths for their support.

“We thank God for the growth of Ibom Air and our overall dedication to our pioneering effort in the Nigerian aviation industry.  We are looking forward to receiving our 10 brand new Airbuses in the nearest future, and then expand our routes to the West and Central African regions respectively.

“Let me use this opportunity to applaud our very resourceful youths for helping to maintain the peace in this State and urge the people to live in peace and show love to one another in the spirit of the yuletide.