*By Onyinyechi Obi*
“The measure of a society is how it treats those who have finished serving it.”
This timeless truth captures the very soul of pension administration, because at the heart of every retirement system lies one sacred duty: to honor labor with security. For decades, that responsibility was broken in Abia State, leaving men and women who gave their youthful strength to public service stranded at the sunset of their lives. Today, however, a new chapter is being written, one defined by structure, compassion, accountability, and hope through the Abia State Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), championed with uncommon resolve by Governor Alex Chioma Otti.
At its core, the Contributory Pension Scheme is a disciplined retirement savings framework where both the employer and the employee make consistent contributions throughout the employee’s active years. These savings are professionally managed by licensed Pension Fund Administrators under strict national regulation, ensuring that retirement is no longer a gamble, but a certainty. It replaces dependence with independence, unpredictability with stability, and fear with confidence. Unlike the old defined-benefit system where retirees waited endlessly for irregular government disbursements, this modern model secures the future in advance, backed by transparency and sustainability.
To appreciate the weight of this reform, one must revisit what was once the norm. In Abia, retirement used to mark the beginning of suffering rather than rest. Gratuities were buried in dusty files for years. Monthly pensions were irregular or nonexistent. Elderly men and women who had spent decades teaching in classrooms, tending patients in hospitals, or serving in ministries were forced to stand under the scorching sun during endless verification exercises just to prove they were alive. Some collapsed in the process. Some died waiting. Many lived in quiet humiliation, forgotten by a system they had faithfully built with their youth.
Inevitably, fear became part of the civil service culture. Workers grew terrified of retiring. Some altered their ages. Others clung to service long after their strength had waned not out of greed, but out of desperation. Retirement meant hunger. Retirement meant sickness without medical care. Retirement meant becoming a burden after a lifetime of being a pillar. That was the painful reality that shaped public service in Abia for years.
Then came a transformational leader with uncommon moral clarity Governor Alex Otti. From his first day in office, it became evident that governance in Abia would no longer be defined by excuses, but by deliberate action. One of the boldest proofs of this resolve was his decision to confront Abia’s massive pension and gratuity crisis head-on. Billions of naira in arrears accumulated across multiple administrations were verified and payment commenced in phases. Under his leadership, over ₦40 billion has already been deployed to clear salary and pension liabilities that had trapped thousands in despair. Monthly pensions were stabilized, with pensioners now receiving their entitlements consistently on or before the 28th of every month. In an unprecedented act of compassion, pensioners were also enrolled into the state health insurance scheme, restoring access to medical care and reaffirming the dignity of old age.
Yet Governor Otti did not stop at correcting the past, he moved intentionally to secure the future. In November 2024, Abia enacted a new Pension Reform Law, repealing the outdated framework and laying a solid legal foundation for the CPS. This reform aligned Abia with national best practices and established a technology-driven, professionally regulated pension architecture designed to outlive individual administrations. Even the National Pension Commission publicly commended Abia for this bold, forward-looking reform. Today, licensed Pension Fund Administrators have been designated to manage contributions, bringing credibility and structure into the heart of Abia’s pension system.
Crucially, the scheme has now moved from policy to practical implementation. With the commencement of statewide sensitization and enrollment across Ministries, Departments, Agencies, and Local Government Areas, the CPS has entered its operational phase. Workers with ten years or more left in service are now being empowered to secure their retirement under a regulated and professionally managed structure. The scheme promotes financial discipline, prevents buildup of arrears, strengthens accountability, and guarantees timely access to benefits. What once existed only on paper is now becoming the daily reality of Abia’s workforce.
The objectives of this reform are clear and transformative. The CPS guarantees retirees a predictable and sustainable income. It removes uncertainty from pension planning. It introduces transparency into retirement savings. It protects the system from political instability. Most importantly, it draws a permanent line between Abia’s past of unpaid pensions and its future of organized, dependable retirement security.
Already, a powerful shift is unfolding. With the introduction of the CPS, civil servants are rediscovering confidence in tomorrow. The unhealthy practice of age falsification will steadily lose relevance, because the fear that sustained it is being dismantled. Workers can now plan their lives with clarity, knowing that their contributions today translate into security tomorrow. Retirement once a sentence is slowly becoming a celebration.
For serving workers, the implications are profound. The CPS offers predictability, transparency, and long-term financial security that the old system failed to deliver. For those approaching retirement, the ongoing audit and phased settlement of historical arrears signal that justice, though delayed, is no longer denied. And for every Abia worker, understanding how their contributions are managed becomes a path to personal financial empowerment.
What makes this moment exceptional is that it is not built on promises, but on visible, measurable action. From clearing decades of backlogs, to restoring monthly discipline, to integrating pensioners into health insurance, to anchoring the CPS on strong law, regulation, and sensitization—this is not accidental governance. This is leadership with intention.
In real and human terms, Governor Alex Otti has dismantled the culture of fear that once haunted Abia’s civil service. He has redefined retirement from a season of anxiety into a season of rest. He has proven that economic discipline and compassion can coexist in government. Through this pension reform journey, he has not only rewritten Abia’s pension narrative, he has restored dignity to labor itself.
