The ongoing screening exercise for retirees in Cross River State has been described as embarrassing, unfair and the worst experience for retirees in recent times.
These were the position of several anonymous retirees who spoke to news men today at Eteta Ita Street, venue for the screening exercise.
The retirees who described the event as appalling said they reported at the venue following an announcement on radio adding that the crowd which was over 700 in number was not attended to apart from people who are just putting down their names.
“We don’t know why we are writing names, we have not been attended to by any official, this is how not to treat senior civil servants.’’
A large number of the pensioners were looking frail due to age, some could neither walk nor see thus, were helped to the screening venue by their relatives, but they were stranded under the sun and rain as no officials attended to them.
Another anonymous pensioner said “The last time we did the screening was at the Accountant General’s office last year this kind of treatment should not be meted out on senior civil servants.
They however called on the State government to come up with a better approach to handling screenings for retirees.
It is worthy of note that as at the time of filling this report, the State accountant General Mr. Charles Adie, had not responded to the questions raised by the pensioners.
According to reports, the state government was doing a staff audit, which includes pensioners and the delay was due to logistics challenges.
