Pained by incessant complaints from retirees across the country on the refusal of state governments to pay gratuities years after retirement, a female governorship hopeful in Cross River, Mrs Imah Nsa Adegoke, has described such development as display of sheer wickedness and heartlessness.
In a chat with our reporter in Calabar, weekend, Mrs Adegoke, who is contesting the governorship seat under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform, said there is no reason for those who served such states meritoriously to be treated like slaves and beggars when there are funds to take care of gratuities at that level of governance.
Adegoke said: “There are too many stories of the wickedness of politicians who have refused to pay pensions and gratuities of people who have worked for 30, 35 years for the state civil service.
“Refusal to pay pensions and gratuity to retirees is a display of the heartlessness and cruelty of man to a fellow man. You can’t be wicked to old people after taking their taxes at source; when they have used up their strength and productive years for the state, you decide to hold their pension and gratuities.
“It is unfair and unjust. Some of those old people have died while pursuing their gratuities. We will stop this when we come on board, and in fact, this is one of the reasons that I am in the race. ”
The lawyer-cum-politician, who Cross River state widows refer to as ‘mother’ due to her involvement in giving them lifelines, also charged stakeholders in the state to address the root cause of low productivity in the civil service.
“Right now, we are not addressing the root cause of low productivity in our civil service, which are nepotism, no promotion and no increment in salaries and no payment of gratuities after retirement.”
