AKWA IBOM STATE ACCUONTANT GENERAL MUST BE SACKED

Away from the lingering issues between the Akwa Ibom State government and the Nigeria Labour Congress in the State, Daily Detail can authoritatively report that there is a fresh smoke coming out from the State Accountant General’s office. Pensioners in the state are poised for a show-down over delay by the office of the Accountant General over delay on the payment of their monthly pensions. Many pensionners across the 31 local government areas of Akwa Ibom State last Firday stormed the corporate office of Daily Detail Newspaper to complain what they described as “inhuman treatment mated to them by banks and the state treasury at the instance of the State Accountant General, Mr. Linus Nkan. According to the retired workers led by one Mr. Etim Efiong Nyong, the trauma they are going through, apart from being a first time experience is enough to send them to their early graves. Speaking on behalf of the aggrieved pensioners, Nyong said they have almost turn banks and the Accountant General’s office to their permanenent residence on the course of getting their constitutional entitlements, lamenting that since Linus Nkan took over as Accountant General of the state, the fate of pensionners haveworsened. In his words: “We don’t know if they don’t want to pay us our pension anymore. The level of difficulties we have in getting our money is no more funny. At first, they told us that they are trying to make the process easy.But to be candid, their arrangement has made our case worse. We have no doubt that our problem is as a result of incompetence on the part of the bank and office of the State Accountant General”. “In the days of the former Accountant General, Mr. Udo Isobara, we used to collect our money regularly and on time, but what we are facing now, is total wickedness. The new Accountant General does not know what to do and as such, should be changed immediately before all pensioners die prematurely”. “When we go to bank, they will be telling us story of Bank Verification Number even when we have gotten the numbers long before now and then they will refer us to the Accountant General’s office. Then when we come here, they will say go to bank. They keep tosting us up and down. We are tired of it. We can not keep suffering because of incompetence of one person. Linus Nkan does not know how to handle pension matters and that is because he was just smuggled in from the bank. He has never been in the state civil service talk less of understanding how it works. He must be sacked before all pensioners in the state die. Checks by Daily Detail reveals that the woes of pensioners in Akwa Ibom State seem to have aggravated since their pensions were moved from other banks to Zenith Bank. Our reporter recently witnessed a scenaro in which a woman retiree who visited the bank for her retirement benefits virtually broke down and wept helplesly after being told that her pension was not ready since Decmber 2015. It took the intervention of a female staff of the bank who pleaded with the woman and even gave her transport fare before the woman agree to leave the bank. The pensioners believe that the state government is conniving with banks to play games on them, puting blame on either bank verification number or payment slip. Efforts to speak with the State Accountant -General, Mr. Linus Nkan proved abortive as letters sent to him were not responded to and attempts to meet him were frustrated by his Personnal Aides. set preset