Gov. Masari pays N70.99bn pension, gratuities to retirees

Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari recently paid over N70.99 billion pension and gratuities to retirees.

This was confirmed by the State Head of Service, Alhaji Idris Tune, on Monday.

Tune told members of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) Katsina Chapter, on Monday, that more than N29.62 billion of the amount was paid to retirees under the state government.

He added that those who retired from local government service and Local Government Education Authorities collected over N41.37 billion within the period spanning 2015 and 2020.

The head of service disclosed that the government has forwarded a bill to set up a contributory pension scheme to the state Assembly for its approval.

“In a bid to sustain the ongoing effort of the state Government in payment of retirement benefits to workers,
a bill is before the State House of Assembly for a Contributory Pension Scheme based on Jigawa model, for consideration.

“When the bill is passed into law, both the Government and workers will contribute monthly, and the workers will be receiving lump sum gratuity and pension like what is obtained in the current system.

“This is because the government will not allow Pension Fund Administrators to determine how to pay retired civil servants their hard earned benefits,” Tune added.

Earlier, Chairman of the Chapel, Malam Abdulhamid Sabo thanked the Head of Service for briefing the media on the achievements recorded by the administration in the civil service sector, which is the engine room of the government.