Calabar, Sept. 2023 – The Cross River State Governor, Bassey Otu, on Saturday promised to clear the backlog of N24 billion gratuities to retirees in the state dating back to eight years.
The governor made the promise in Calabar on Saturday, while addressing journalists on his 100 days in office.
He said the state government would not forget its retires, some of whom were dying without getting what they had laboured for.
“As of today, we are owing our retirees N24 billion in terms of gratuities and the way I am looking at the economy in both the state and the nation, this is not an amount of money that can be easily achieved in terms of payment.
“So, we have asked the State House of Assembly to come up with a contributory pension scheme bill and we have gotten some of the strongest banks in the nation to clear the N24 billion.
“However, the labour union in the state is insisting that they don’t want to be part of that scheme because according to them, some of their members who were enlisted in such schemes in the past were not being paid,” he said.
Otu promised to investigate the reasons some of their members were not being paid.
The governor said the state was investing in security in order to ensure that people go about their businesses without fear of harassment.
“We are not going to play with insecurity because anybody who denies someone his freedom, we will make sure his/her own freedom is denied.
“When I came into power, we allowed an amnesty window which was for people to turn in their arms and change, some did, but some rejected that window, so, we had to come down hard on the situation.
“We imposed a curfew in Akpabuyo and Bakassi Local Government Areas and today gradually, people of those areas can sleep with their two eyes closed.
“While we would continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the state is secure, we crave the support of our citizens, so that bad eggs would be identified and taken out,” Out said. (GBN)
