The Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti on Friday has told journalist that the State Government had paid all the pension arrears of retirees in the state.

According to News Agency of Nigeria, the governor disclosed this during the monthly media parley in Umuahia where he said that all the pensions and arrears of about 12,500 retirees were cleared as of last Thursday.

Otti said that over ₦9 billion out of the ₦10 billion outlay had so far been expended for the exercise.

He recalled that his administration had, after assuming office on May 29, 2023, promised to pay off all the pension arrears by the end of that year.

According to him, unfortunately, by the end of the year, we were still saddled with a very difficult verification exercise that ended just a few weeks ago.

The governor promised that moving forward, pensioners would receive 100 per cent of their entitlements on or before the 28th of every month.

“As we are paying 100 per cent of salaries we will also pay 100 per cent of pensions.

“Never again shall we have a backlog of pensions and arrears to be paid,” Otti vowed.

The governor said that his administration would continue to place a high premium on the healthcare delivery system in the state.

He said that the government, in collaboration with a group, had engaged over 80 medical doctors who would provide free medical services in the state.

Otti said that the medical personnel who had already started arriving in the state would carry out surgeries and other forms of treatments in the next couple of days.

The governor assured that the government had provided logistics, especially for residents coming from outside the state capital, Umuahia.

He urged the people to take advantage of the free exercise and have their health checked.

Otti said that his administration would continue with its programme of retrofitting the 948 primary healthcare centres in the state.