William Attah, Gombe
Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has approved the release of seven hundred and fifty five million naira (N755M) for the payment of outstanding gratuities to retired civil servants in the state.
A release made available by the Director General, Press Affairs, Government House Gombe, Ismaila Uba Misilli, says the 755 million naira has already been released to the committee constituted by the Governor to ensure payment of pensions and gratuity arrears headed by the State Auditor General.
He said, the committee is also charged with the responsibility of reviewing and ascertaining the correctness of the outstanding gratuity adding that a date will soon be announced for the commencement of payment.
He explained also that the Government is committed to improving the welfare of the retirees which is the reason why at the inception of the administration, the Governor approved the payment of over 1.6 billion naira gratuity arrears.
“Government will soon commence the payment of the monthly pension arrears of Gombe Local Government retirees who, due to lack of funds at the local government have not been paid their pensions for sometime now”, the statement said.
He added that any difference in the required pension monthly payment will be augmented and paid by the state government.
The statement explained that the Inuwa Yahaya administration had inherited liabilities of gratuity arrears of over 14 billion naira from the past administration which payment for the retirees’ entitlement was abandoned since 2014.