Presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi, has related how an 80-year-old woman who was owed pension arrears forced him to leave a church service when he served as governor of Anambra State between 2007 and 2014.
Speaking on Brekete Family radio programme in Abuja on Wednesday, Obi said the incident made him to liquidate all the outstanding pension and gratuity he inherited from his predecessors before leaving office.
“When I was governor, I went to church every Sunday morning. One day I was in the church and an 80-year-old woman asked me to leave the church. She told me to stop praying and leave.
“The old woman, Mrs. Ndibe, came and carried my bag asking me to leave. She told me that God will not answer my prayer until I pay her gratuity and pension.
“I followed the woman to her house and what she told me made me decide to clear the debts,” he said on a radio programmed in Abuja on today (Wednesday).
Obi stated that before he left office, his government owned neither pensioners nor contractors any money.
“Till the day I left office as governor, I owed nobody what is called gratuity. When I assumed office, they (Chris Ngige’s administration) were owing people N32 billion.
“In 2007, the state had an outstanding pension and gratuity of around N35bn.
“By November 2013, Obi paid the sum of N30 billion and cleared the rest in subsequent months before handing over in 2014.
The presidential aspirant bemoaned a situation in which pension payment has become a major issue, while leaders, according to him, receive their pay every month.
“When you see the pain people go through in serving their country, it is painful. We are supposed to be helping them enjoy it.
“The problem with pensions affects everybody. This thing needs to be reorganised. We need to do it better. Even the little amount, the pensioners are not paid. The country is supposed to have cleared its backlogs. These are people in their old age with less opportunity.”
“If you cannot pay salaries, you cannot pay gratuity, you go home. It is simple because you receive your salary. We need to change. You can’t be owing people and you go about with your family,” he added.
