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From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru has said his administration was working with the management of the state university, EBSU, to resolve the non-payment of pensions and gratuities of the retired workers in the university, which has been raising concerns.
He stated this in an interview with journalists in Abakaliki, the state capital at the weekend.
He disclosed that an understanding had been reached with the university management to accommodate the affected retired workers and explore ways of addressing their concerns.
He, however, explained that the responsibility for employing university workers rests with the university management and not directly with the state government, stressing that existing laws do not automatically impose liability on the state for the workers’ retirement benefits.
“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.
“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,” Nwifuru said.
The governor said the state could not automatically assume responsibility for workers it did not employ, adding, “The law is very clear. You cannot fire who you did not hire. That’s the problem that they are facing.”
The governor explained that universities operate under different financial and administrative structures, stressing that responsibility for workers’ pensions depends largely on whether an institution is directly run by government.
“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.
Nwifuru said the university management was already working with relevant authorities to navigate the issue and find a workable solution for the affected retirees.
On infrastructure, the governor said work was progressing at the ICT University despite the state’s limited resources.
He said his administration had deliberately avoided excessive spending on project commissioning ceremonies and publicity, noting that scarce resources could instead be channelled into 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,” Nwifuru said.
He further disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would commission projects at the ICT University, including the Senate building, during his visit to Ebonyi State.
“We have Mr President. Any time Mr President is coming here, he will commission that project,” the governor said, adding that another project would also be commissioned during the President’s visit without disclosing its details.
