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Hundreds of retired local government workers and primary school teachers, on Thursday, blocked the Delta State Government House entry in Asaba in protest against what they described as wickedness on the part of the government over the non-payment of their gratuities and pensions.

The protesters, who carried placards with different inscriptions such as, ‘Okowa pay us our pension’, ‘Give us what we contributed’, and ‘Okowa, what have we done to you?’ among others, besieged the Government House gate.

When they discovered that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa was at an event centre for an empowerment programme, the retirees walked singing solidarity songs to the venue and blocked the entrance.

In a protest letter signed by the Chairman, Local Government Retirees, A. O. Mode; and Chairman, Primary School Retirees, stated that they had not been paid their gratuities and pensions since 2014.

The letter read in part, “As of November 2020, the government owed the retirees over N51bn accrued rights.

“There is an unremitted deduction of the sum of N5.9bn to the Bureau of Local Government Pension by ALGON during the era of non-payment of salaries between 2015 and 2017.”

Three of the retirees collapsed during the protest and were rushed to an undisclosed hospital.

Reacting to the protest, the Secretary to the State Government, Chief Patrick Ukah, said the Okowa administration had stepped up the pensioners’ support from N150m to N300m.