Otti set to resolve issues of pension arrears in Abia 

Otti set to resolve issues of pension arrears in Abia

By Sampson Uhuegbu

The governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti,  has assured that by the end of this month the long lingering pension arrears in the State will be resolved permanently as a lot of progress have been made in that regard. Adding that ministry of Agriculture is making sure that all available land in the state are cultivated this farming season.

The governor gave the assurance while  speaking during the monthly media chart tagged ” Governor Alex Otti speaks to Abians”. He said that his administration is very passionate in ensuring that all bottleneck surrounding the issue of pension arrears are completely resolved.

On why some civil servants are yet to receive their salaries for some months even after undergoing verification, the Governor said a meeting has been fixed with the Accountant General and Commissioner for Finance to resolve issues responsible for why those affected do not receive their salaries alongside co-workers.

On upward review of salaries of Abia workers as promised and the federal government wage award to workers across the country, the Governor said that a committee has been working on modalities and implementation of  same, assuring that the report of the committee is being expected soonest.

On programmes of the State government in ensuring food security, the governor stated that road infrastructure, improved security and other initiatives being taking by his government are all geared towards creating the right atmosphere for Abians to access their farm lands freely while the ministry of Agriculture is making sure that all available land in the state are cultivated this farming season for food sufficiency.

The Governor added that efforts are on to retrieve farm estates which are in the hands of private investors currently said that plans are under way to make available funds to 100 farmers and small business owners in each of the 17 LGAS of the State in the first instance while efforts will be made to extend the gesture to the ward level.

“We are working round the clock to see that all lands that are available particularly to the State are cultivated this planting season. They are quite a lot of plantations that we are still trying to disentangle. Some of them have been concessioned by previous governments to people who are actually not planting them and we have in the last few months been engaged in trying to disentangle some of those concessions.

We also have programmes that support people involved in agriculture and trade and commerce at the very low level. The cooperative arrangements that we just put in place would make available not less than 100 thousand Naira to farmers and traders , I believe a hundred of them per Local Government in the first instance and then, we would go to the wards “