Retired staff members of the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) have lamented non-payment of their gratuities for over nine years.
ABS is a radio and television station owned and managed by the Anambra State Government.
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The retirees, under the auspices of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), ABS Chapter, cried out over the alleged non-payment of the benefits in a statement issued last week after their meeting in Anambra State.
In the statement signed by the Chairman of the ABS Chapter of the NUP, Bony Ezeani, the union described the non-payment of the benefits as “inhuman and unacceptable,” alleging that retirees who devoted their greater part of their productive years to the state were being left to suffer in old age.
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Inside the unpaid benefits
In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, Mr Ezeani, an engineer, recalled that he and other pensioners in ABS had not been receiving their gratuities since 2017.
“Before now, staff members usually received their gratuities upon retirement. But in recent times, we don’t receive anything again,” he said.
“2017 was the year ABS retirees received their last gratuities.”
Willie Obiano was the governor of Anambra State at the time.
Mr Obiano served as the fourth governor of the South-eastern state from 17 March 2014 to 17 March 2022.
He handed over to the incumbent governor, Charles Soludo, on 17 March 2022 who subsequently won a reelection in November 2025.
Mr Ezeani said at least 10 ABS staff members retire yearly after attaining 65 years mandatory retirement age or 35 years of active service.
The NUP chairman stressed that the situation is particularly painful because checks by the union showed that only ABS retirees suffer the non-payment of gratuities in Anambra State Civil Service.
“We don’t know if the state government wants retiring staff of ABS to die after retirement or whether it is a crime to work and retire in ABS,” he said.
Continuing, the chairman said: “But the governor said just a few days ago that there is no retiree in Anambra State from the time he became the governor that has not gotten his or her gratuity. So, what happened to ABS staff?”
Non-payment of other benefits
Similarly, Mr Ezeani narrated how Governor Soludo promised N10,000 monthly stipends to all retirees in Anambra State Civil Service.
The NUP chairman recalled that Mr Soludo made the promise on 25 October 2024 at a forum with members of organised Labour unions in Anambra after the governor was stunned to learn that some retirees receive N333 as monthly pensions.
“Soludo was surprised and consequently ordered an additional monthly payment of N10,000 to all retirees in Anambra State to augment the N333 being received.
“That N10,000 was supposed to be received by all pensioners in Anambra State. But to our greatest surprise, ABS pensioners have never received the N10,000 benefits while other retirees continue to receive it,” he said.
He said, at the time of the governor’s promise, there were 213 ABS pensioners.
Mr Ezeani said he has repeatedly written to Governor Soludo and visited other government officials.
He said a former accountant general of the state had acknowledged that the non-payment of the benefits was an error and then promised to correct it, but failed to do so.
The chairman said he later met with the current Accountant General of Anambra State,Chinedum Achor, who allegedly claimed he was not clear about the non-payment and then questioned ABS retirees’ eligibility for the benefits.
“He sat on it till today. Other retirees have been receiving this N10,000 monthly for the past 23 months,” he said.
He said the retirees are demanding payment of the arrears for the N10,000 amounting to N240,000 and also the gratuities.
‘People are dying’
Mr Ezeani argued that the non-payment of the gratuities and other benefits to the ABS retirees was already causing untold hardship to them.
“People are dying. People are hospitalised. There’s a case of one of our senior presenters in ABS, George Edwards, who has been sick and has been lying on a sick bed at Onitsha.
“Edwards just needs less than N200,000 to take care of himself,” he said.
Anambra govt speaks
When contacted on Thursday afternoon, Don Adinuba, who served as the information commissioner under Mr Obiano, told PREMIUM TIMES that he would need to check his records to respond to the allegations of unpaid gratuities since 2017.
“It has been nearly 10 years now,” Mr Adinuba said.
The Incumbent Commissioner for Information in Anambra State, Law Mefor, did not respond to multiple calls and a text message seeking his comments.
Also, the Commissioner for Finance in Anambra State, Izuchukwu Okafor, asked a PREMIUM TIMES reporter to visit his office in Awka for a response.
“I don’t know you. So it will be very much okay for me if you find it convenient to visit my office so that we can talk about it.
“But I can assure you that there’s no truth in whatever they’re alleging,” Mr Okafor said.
When told that this reporter is based outside Anambra State, the commissioner insisted on a face-to-face interview despite acknowledging its difficulty.
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