By our Reporter
Gov. Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has approved the disbursements of the sum of one billion naira to clear the outstanding gratuity of 1000 retirees of both local and state government between 1999 and 2010.
Governor Sule announced this during on the spot assessment of the ongoing screening exercise for over 700 local government and 300 state retirees at the headquarters of the Nasarawa State Bureau for Pension Administration in Lafia.
Gov. Sule explained that his administration inherited a backlog of gratuity from the creation of the state in 1996 to date.
Governor Sule said that with improved revenue accruing to the state, his administration saw the need to clear off gratuity of retirees starting from 1999 to 2010.
“People are facing a lot of challenges today due to the economic hardship.
“That is the reason why we believe if we pay them their money, some of them are getting one million, some two million and even three million, the money will go a long way in reducing the hardship,” he said.
The Governor expressed optimism that with 500 local government retirees, out of the over 700 and 100 state retirees, out of the over 300 already screened, the beneficiaries would begin to receive their payments by Tuesday next week.
Also speaking, Alhaji Suleiman Musa Nagogo, Director General, Nasarawa State Pension Bureau, explained that the screening exercise, which started on Monday, 13th February, would last till Monday 19th February.
“Once we are able to handle those ones from 1999 to 2010, as Governor said, additional funds would be made available to clear that of retirees from 2011/2012, in order to make sure we have addressed the challenge of payment of gratuity in Nasarawa State,” he said.
The DG further clarified that retired permanent secretaries numbering 60 would receive N2m each while those who are deceased are likely to receive N4m out of their entitlements.
He said that since the inception of the present administration under Governor Sule, both local and state pensioners have been receiving one hundred percent of the pension, with the pensioners already paying their February pension.
The DG, however dismissed, claims that files belonging to some retirees were missing, saying he has never received complaints of anybody’s file not being able to be traced.