The Ebonyi State Government has drawn a distinction between the N100,000 humanitarian assistance reportedly given to individual retirees of Ebonyi State University (EBSU) and the payment of their statutory pension and gratuity entitlements.
The government said the financial assistance, reportedly extended to 216 accredited retirees by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Dr Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, could not be regarded as settlement of outstanding retirement benefits.
The Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Barr. Chief Ikeuwa Omebeh, stated this in a press rejoinder issued on Thursday in Abakaliki in response to recent comments by the PDP and its 2027 governorship candidate over the plight of EBSU retirees.
Omebeh said the government welcomed genuine humanitarian interventions aimed at alleviating the hardship faced by elderly citizens but cautioned against presenting such assistance as payment of pension or gratuity.
“ A donation of N100,000 to an individual retiree is humanitarian assistance; it is not the payment of that retiree's pension or gratuity. The two are fundamentally different matters,” he said.
According to him, pension and gratuity claims require verification of service records, determination of legitimate entitlements, identification of the responsible institution or authority and compliance with applicable financial and legal procedures.
The commissioner said it was therefore misleading to suggest that the reported payment to the retirees constituted settlement of their outstanding retirement benefits.
The statement followed recent reports that EBSU retirees had complained of alleged outstanding pensions and gratuities, with Odii reportedly providing financial assistance to affected retirees. Reports on the intervention put the assistance at about N7 million, although other accounts have reported different figures concerning the number of beneficiaries and the total amount involved.
Omebeh said the state government was prepared to examine properly documented and verified claims by the affected retirees, stressing that their welfare should not be subjected to political contestation.
“The retirees concerned are elderly men and women who served the institution and deserve to have legitimate claims treated with dignity and urgency,” he said.
He said the appropriate response was for the relevant authorities, EBSU management, retirees' representatives and government agencies to establish the facts surrounding individual claims and determine the appropriate mechanism for resolving them.
The commissioner also cited the state government's broader interventions on pension and gratuity payments, saying Ebonyi had approved payment of arrears to state and local government retirees through a structured verification process.
The state government's official records show that it approved payment of pension and gratuity arrears to local government retirees from 1996 to 2025, with beneficiaries required to present relevant service and pension documentation for verification.
However, Omebeh acknowledged that such interventions did not automatically establish that every individual EBSU retiree's claim had been settled.
“That is precisely why the specific EBSU claims should be properly verified and addressed on their merits,” he said.
The commissioner further disclosed that the state government was working with EBSU management and relevant unions, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), to streamline pension administration at the university and facilitate the smooth take-off of its pension scheme.
He urged the PDP and other stakeholders who had additional information on the matter to provide details of the affected retirees, individual amounts allegedly owed and the legal or institutional basis of the claims to the appropriate authorities.
“If Dr. Odii and the PDP have additional information establishing the precise number of affected retirees, the individual amounts owed, the basis of each claim and the institution legally responsible for settlement, such information should be made available to the appropriate authorities,” Omebeh said.
The commissioner maintained that the state government would not oppose individuals who chose to assist retirees from their personal resources, but insisted on a distinction between humanitarian relief and statutory retirement obligations.
“There is no need to politicise the pain of our senior citizens,” he said, adding that the government remained committed to constructive engagement with EBSU retirees and other stakeholders towards resolving any verified outstanding claims.
He also reaffirmed the state government's position that Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru remained committed to workers' welfare, saying the administration would continue to address legitimate retirement-benefit claims through appropriate institutional and verification processes.
