ABS retirees cry out over nine years of unpaid benefits

Retired staff members of the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) are unhappy about not receiving their gratuities for over nine years.

ABS is a radio and television station owned by the Anambra State Government.

The retirees, through the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), ABS Chapter, expressed their concerns in a statement after a meeting in Anambra State last week.

Bony Ezeani, the Chairman of the ABS Chapter of the NUP, signed the statement. He called the non-payment of benefits “inhuman and unacceptable.” He said retirees who dedicated their working years to the state are suffering in old age.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, Mr Ezeani, who is an engineer, mentioned that he and other pensioners have not received their gratuities since 2017.

“Before now, staff members usually received their gratuities upon retirement. But in recent times, we don’t receive anything again,” he said.

“2017 was the year ABS retirees received their last gratuities.”

Willie Obiano was the governor of Anambra State at that time. He was the fourth governor of the state from 17 March 2014 to 17 March 2022.

He handed over to the current governor, Charles Soludo, on 17 March 2022. Soludo won reelection in November 2025.

Mr Ezeani stated that about 10 staff members retire from ABS each year after reaching the age of 65 or completing 35 years of active service.

He added that the situation is painful because the union found out that only ABS retirees are not getting their gratuities in the Anambra State Civil Service.

“We don’t know if the state government wants retiring staff of ABS to die after retirement or whether it is a crime to work and retire in ABS,” he said.

He continued, “But the governor said just a few days ago that there is no retiree in Anambra State from the time he became the governor that has not gotten his or her gratuity. So, what happened to ABS staff?”

Mr Ezeani also shared how Governor Soludo promised N10,000 monthly stipends to all retirees in Anambra State Civil Service.

He recalled that Soludo made this promise on 25 October 2024 during a meeting with Labour union members in Anambra after learning that some retirees receive as low as N333 monthly.

“Soludo was surprised and ordered an additional monthly payment of N10,000 to all retirees in Anambra State to help with the N333 being received,” he said.

“That N10,000 was supposed to be received by all pensioners in Anambra State. But to our greatest surprise, ABS pensioners have never received the N10,000 benefits while other retirees continue to receive it,” he added.

At the time of the governor’s promise, there were 213 ABS pensioners.

Mr Ezeani explained that he has written to Governor Soludo and visited other government officials many times.

A former accountant general of the state acknowledged that the non-payment of benefits was an error and promised to fix it, but did not do so.

He later met with the current Accountant General of Anambra State, Chinedum Achor, who said he was unclear about the non-payment and questioned the eligibility of ABS retirees for the benefits.

“He sat on it till today. Other retirees have been receiving this N10,000 monthly for the past 23 months,” he said.

The retirees are now demanding payment of the arrears for the N10,000, which totals N240,000, along with their gratuities.

Mr Ezeani argued that not paying the gratuities and benefits is causing serious hardship for the ABS retirees.

“People are dying. People are hospitalised. There’s a case of one of our senior presenters in ABS, George Edwards, who has been sick and lying on a sick bed at Onitsha.

“Edwards just needs less than N200,000 to take care of himself,” he said.

When contacted on Thursday afternoon, Don Adinuba, who was the information commissioner under Mr Obiano, said he would check his records to respond to the unpaid gratuities since 2017.

“It has been nearly 10 years now,” Mr Adinuba said.

The current Commissioner for Information in Anambra State, Law Mefor, did not respond to multiple calls and a text message asking for comments.

The Commissioner for Finance in Anambra State, Izuchukwu Okafor, told a PREMIUM TIMES reporter to visit his office in Awka for a response.

“I don’t know you. So it will be very much okay for me if you find it convenient to visit my office so that we can talk about it.

“But I can assure you that there’s no truth in whatever they’re alleging,” Mr Okafor said.

When told that this reporter is based outside Anambra State, the commissioner insisted on a face-to-face interview despite acknowledging its difficulty.