By; Mohammed Kawu, Bauchi
The sum of N5.2 billion has so far been paid by the Bauchi state government as gratuities to retired state and local government workers in the last three weeks of the ongoing exercise.
The government has allocated the sum of N10 billion to the gratuities payment committee that comprised officials of the Bauchi State Contributory Pension Commission, State NLC and Politician to conduct the exercise.
Briefing the press on the progress of the conduct, the Executive Secretary of the Bauchi State Contributory Pension Commission, Ibrahim Inuwa said the committee was set up to ensure transparent, systematic and sustainable payment of gratuities.
Giving a breakdown of the exercise, committee leaders for state and local government gratuity payment, Alhaji Muhammad Sizwe and Kola Oyerinde, said N3.1 billion was paid to local government retirees, while N2.1 billion was paid to state retirees.
The duo explained that the exercise has been relatively smooth, despite occasional challenges, including misplaced files of few retirees.
“The process is unfolding fairly smoothly. We have a few people whose files are still not found, but that’s an ongoing process. The two Executive Secretaries are constantly looking for those files. It’s a very small minority,” a team leader said.
The committee said payment for retirees who retired in 2015 commenced yesterday on Monday and will run for seven days.
It urged all 2015 retirees to come forward for verification and subsequent payment, and called for retirees of 2012, 2013 and 2014 who missed earlier phases to report for payment.
“Just because we are starting 2015 does not mean we have ignored those who did not turn up for 2012, 2013 and 2014. If you retired during that period and missed the exercise, please still come forward. We can still accommodate you,” Oyerinde said.
He disclosed that for 2014, 583 retirees were expected, but only 442 turned up, and appealed to pension desk officers in all affected local governments to intensify sensitisation to ensure no eligible retiree is left out.
They also called for wider publicity to ensure that eligible retirees in the affected local government areas were aware of the payment schedule and could contact the relevant pension desk officers to process their benefits.
For the state, 583 retirees were expected to participate in the 2024 exercise, but only 442 turned up Similarly, 769 local government retirees were expected, while 670 appeared for the exercise.
The figures presented at the briefing showed that 947 state government pensioners and 1,790 local government pensioners had so far been paid under the exercise.
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