Kano state governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf has revealed that his government has set aside the whopping N6 billion for part-payment of death benefits and pension gratuity liabilities of over five thousand retired civil servants in the state.
BizPoint recalls that the governor, since assuming power, had expressed displeasure over backlog of gratuities from the immediate past administration, amounting to over N40 billion.
The governor then promised to clear the backlog of the benefits and liabilities in two years.
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In a chat with some members of Kano Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, at his office in Kano on Friday, Yusuf said the decision was reached at the 7th weekly Executive Council meeting on Wednesday.
According to him, the beneficiaries of the benefits would be retirees of lower grade level whose amounts range from N1million downwards, stressing that the money to be paid was not borrowed from anywhere.
The governor said he had attached utmost concern about the plight of retired civil servants who finished serving their state but the immediate past government refused to pay their entitlements.
“I always sleep and wake up with the issue of gratuities of retired civil servants in my mind. I always think on how to settle and clear this backlog.
“I frequently summon meeting with Accountant General, Chairman Pension Trust fund and others to assist me on the way forward.
“It is in the course of this meeting we decided to start paying those of low grade level, whose amounts have not exceeded N1 million or little above N1 million down to like N150, 000, or N250,000.
“I asked them to compile their list and we have got the names of over 5,000 of them.
“By next week, they will receive their gratuities in sha Allah. The total amount as we calculated is about N6 billion and it has since been approved at the Executive Council meeting. Let me also tell you that we have the money at hand. We have not borrowed a dime to lay this gratuity,” Yusuf stressed.
Governor Yusuf also expressed readiness and commitment to welfare of workers and retired civil servants in the state.
He also restated commitments to serving Kano people, calling on the populace to give maximum cooperation to his administration for the overall development of the state.
