I guess, perhaps that you are conversant with classical tales, that you may have encountered the Penguin Bookshelf or come across Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales or John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim Progress. Mine is an inspiration from the classical tales.
There is another pleasant tale for you, the tale of Abia pensioners. Our fathers and mothers. The elder statesmen who served their country with the energy of their youth. Our elderly ones who deserve a good and comfortable retirement. The aging men and women weakened by time and the associated disabilities of age. The men living on the memories of yesteryears. Some are bearers of memories of eternal wound. Some are living ancestors. Governor Alex Otti paid them their arrears of pension in quantum and it has been jubilation galore.
For a long while, it did appear as if the state was at war with them. They were neglected and their wages denied. The state gave deaf ears to their cries to be paid their due. But, alas, joy came in the morning after many nights of sorrow. Since last week, our pensioners have been smiling to the bank. Their bank accounts buzzed with alerts. For once, they felt happy and recognized. They felt that they belong to a state that is capable of protecting their lives and their prayers for Governor Otti have gone high to the heavens. The payment of their nine months arrears of pension is a promise fulfilled.
Indeed, the Abia Pensioners’ Progress is one of the identities of Otti’s early historical age. It will go down in our lores that this achievement was done in the tenth month of his place in power. Today, a critical section of our polity is feeling a glimmer of joy. Their lamentations had gone far and wide and, today, they are being assured to weep no more. Their current tale is the testament of the New Abia. It is an Ode to Victory, the joy that comes in the morning after a night of sorrow.
But, essentially, the Pensioners’ Progress is a strong equity in the current public perception of Abia State. Otti’s positioning in power is changing the narrative and, as a corollary, also changing the public perception of Abia. With the massive infrastructural revolution and the roads, the overhauling of the system and concious effort to do things differently, the spotlight is beaming on Abia. The world has now seen that something good can come out of Nazareth. The song everywhere is: Otti is Doing Well. The Pensioners’ Progress is therefore another asset of value and a great milestone of our image bank. The news is a great endorsement to Otti as a man of his words and as a man with a compassionate heart.
If you are thinking Abia First, if you are a true statesman dedicated to duty and Country, you would appreciate the pensioners’ progress as a giant leap for our dear state. You will affirm this tale as a great milestone in our journey of statehood. But, if you are still held back in the past, you would probably snigger at the good news of progress as was the case with Plato’s cave dwellers. But, the light will soon come to you.
The Abia Pensioners’ progress is one of the achievements of the overhauling exercise and particularly the benefits of the recertification of retirees; an exercise that confirmed the authentic pensioners as against the bogus payroll. It is change in action, an emblem of the new Abia.
Otti is intentional about his mission and his intended destination for Abia. And, in his own words: “When we are done! When we are done!”
We cannot wait for the full manifestation of this vision.
Adindu, a media/PR consultant, writes from Umuahia, Abia State capital
