By Jeff Agbodo, Abakaliki
ABAKALIKI — Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, has said his administration is working with the management of the state university to resolve the dispute over the payment of pensions and gratuities owed some retired workers of the institution.
Nwifuru spoke while responding to an appeal by more than 200 retirees who sought his intervention over the non-payment of their retirement benefits.
The governor explained that the responsibility for employing workers of the university rested with the institution’s management, rather than directly with the state government, adding that the existing legal framework did not automatically make the state responsible for their retirement benefits.
According to him, the key issue was determining the appropriate authority responsible for the payment of the affected workers’ pensions and gratuities.
“The problem now is who actually is responsible for the payment of the pensions and gratuities of these people, since the government of Ebonyi is not the one employing them. They are not the ones hiring,” he said.
Nwifuru said the state could not automatically assume responsibility for workers it did not employ, stressing that employment and termination responsibilities were linked.
“The law is very clear. You cannot fire who you did not hire. That’s the problem that they are facing,” he said.
The governor, however, said his administration had reached an understanding with the university management to accommodate the affected retirees and explore ways of addressing their concerns.
“We have gotten to a point that we agreed with the management of the university. We agreed that what we should do is accommodate these people that are already crying,” he said.
Nwifuru further explained that universities operated under different financial and administrative structures, with responsibility for workers’ pensions depending on the status and management structure of the institution.
“If they are being run by government, it is the responsibility of government; their staff are staff of that state government. But if they are not being run by government, then you cannot say that the government should also pay,” he stated.
He said the university management was working with relevant authorities to resolve the matter and develop a workable arrangement for the affected retirees.
On infrastructure development, Nwifuru said work was progressing at the ICT University despite the state’s limited resources.
The governor said his administration had deliberately reduced spending on elaborate project commissioning ceremonies and publicity, arguing that scarce public resources could be redirected to infrastructure development.
“We are not spending much money in order to commission projects. We have small resources, so the money we would spend on television houses, media houses and social media for commissioning projects can be used to do one kilometre of road,” he said.
Nwifuru also disclosed that President Bola Tinubu would commission projects at the ICT University, including the Senate building, during his planned visit to Ebonyi State.
“We have Mr President. Anytime Mr President is coming here, he will commission that project,” he said, adding that another project would also be commissioned during the visit without disclosing details.
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