November 1, (THEWILL) – The Benue State Government has set up three committees to address the challenges of payment of pensions, judgment debts and garnishee orders on the Government bank accounts by retirees owed by the State Government.
Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and Public Order, Barr Fidelis Mnyim, who performed the ceremony after an intensive interactive session with his Finance, Budget and Economic Planning counterpart, Michael Oglegba and other private lawyers in Makurdi, said the move was aimed at finding common ground on how best to resolve the issues out of court.
He directed the committees to commence work immediately and to submit their reports through his office for scrutiny and onward transmission to Governor Hyacinth Alia for necessary action regarding payment of monies owed to retirees without litigation.
“Money owed retirees by successive regimes in the State was huge and had to work with the lawyers through committees to advise their clients to see the need to accept an out-of-court settlement,” he said.
In his presentation at the meeting, the Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Oglegba, said the Alia administration, upon assumption of office, has been sincere and ready to tackle challenges of pension arrears.
He stated that all retired civil servants have been paid their gratuity and pension since May this year, expressing worry that with the huge debt profile, funds from the Internally Generated Revenue and the Federation Accounts would not be able to address the financial challenges, hence the need to set up the committees to look into the matter.
Some private lawyers, including Professor Akaa Imbuase, called on the Government to be sincere in its approach towards finding common ground on the best way to offset the consent judgment debt.
Oscar Aorabee and Ucha Ulegede, in their separate remarks, said their clients were not paid their entitlements by the past administration for belonging to another political party.
Barr. Ulegede held that rather than payment, the government was using huge sums of money to go to appeal courts against pensioners who won their cases at the lower courts.
The three committees inaugurated are Garnishee and Judgement Debt, chaired by S.A. Orkuma; Administration of Justice, chaired by Bernard Hom; and Legal Drafting consisting of all lawyers in the Ministry of Justice among others.
