Thomas Abi Jr|5 November 2015|3:14am
I am not a pensioner neither am I a civil servant but I feel terribly bad that pensioners are owed their gratuity and in most cases some of them die out of hardship, poverty, hunger, and high blood pressure due to the unavailability of their pension and gratuity.
I was born into a family where my parents worked for the government of Cross River State. My parents were civil servants. I was trained in the University by my mother, she catered for my needs and brought me up to adulthood. It pains me that my mother since after retirement from the State civil service, is yet to receive her gratuity 3 years after her retirement. It is not peculiar to her as many of her colleagues are still owed their entitlements.
I received, what seemed, an angry phone call a few days ago from my mother, telling me to please tell Governor Ayade to pay her gratuity, she was bitter and unhappy. "T.boy, my son, please beg Governor Ayade to pay me my gratuity". She sounded very bad and unhappy, she was pissed and angered that she had things to execute with her entitlement but couldn't access her funds. I tried to calm her down but she was not ready to listen to any rigmarole. My mother was pained and I felt it in her voice.
I am very much aware that after the loss of the 76 oils to neighboring Akwa Ibom State, the State suffered a lot of set backs and at some point couldn't meet up with some financial obligations. But we must not sit and fold our hands while our pensioners are starving and dying as a result of the backlog of unpaid gratuities. This is not to say I am not grateful to Governor Ben Ayade for his prompt payment of salaries and his timely intervention on very pressing issues in the State. His payment of salaries every 25th of each month is one I give him credit but more still needs to be done in the area of pensioners gratuity.
We must work for the emancipation of our pensioners. Many have died and some are living on medicines without proper health care due to lack of money to carter for their health needs.
Martin Luther King Jr., said "We can choose either to walk the high road of human brotherhood or to tread the low road of man's inhumanity to man. History has thrust upon our generation an in-describably important destiny to complete a process of democratization which our nation has too long developed too slowly. The future of America is bound up in the present crisis. If America is to remain a first class nation, it can not have a second class citizenship".
Governor Ayade is a man of history and a man who means well for his people, he has always said we must put food on the tables of our people. It is my utmost prayer that the cry of our pensioners would reach governor Ayade. Sir, please kindly include gratuities in the bailout money from the federal government. Your people need you, your people are dying. My Governor, you were voted because of your antecedents as a man with a heart of gold, a man who understands the cry of the poor, please come to the aid of pensioners, please rescue them and pay them their gratuity. I know it has not been easy meeting the needs of the State but these is a time you need to embrace your pensioners and look into their plight as their Governor and servant.
My Governor, in as much as you are working round the clock in bringing in meaningful development to the State, Sir, please improve the welfare package of our pensioners, many of them have remained on the same pension scale for over 20 years. And they can no longer buy in our markets due to the poor pension received.
Cross River State is destined for greatness and I am optimistic that Governor Ayade is going to speedily come to the plight of our pensioners who are still yet to be paid their gratuity.
My Governor, my thoughts and prayers are with you as you strategize in liberating our people from poverty and hunger.
Prince Thomas Abi Jr.
Is a Public Affairs Analyst/Social Commentator
