From Yakubu Mustapha Minna
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state has increased across board the monthly pension of pensioners by 20 percent just as the administration has saved N1billion from over bloated gratuities claims inherited from the immediate past government.
Similarly, the government currently needed the sum of N15.2 billion to pay backlog of monthly pensions and gratuity for retirees who were migrated from the new pension scheme back to the old scheme.
The Director General of the State Pension Board, Alhaji Usman Tinau Muhammad disclosed this to members of the Niger state Media Strategy and Communication Committee yesterday in Minna.
Tinau Muhammad said that last year notwithstanding the variables, the Governor increased the monthly pension to retirees by 20 percent as deliberate policy to ameliorate the suffering of the pensioners.
He hinted that sequel to a law exempting those who were in the state civil service before 1993 from the New Contributory Pension Scheme CPS, the state government will now pay N15.2billion as backlog of monthly pension and gratuities.
He further noted that the amount was high because some people were retired for 8 to 10years without payment because of the stoppage of the remittance to Pension Fund Administrators by the previous government and now that they fall into the old scheme they must be captured as arrears.
The DG disclosed that when the administrtion of Governor Sani Bello came, the sum of N2.6 billion was approved to clear all confirmed backlog of gratuities of both state and local government retirees.
He stated that the government inherited close to N4billion as backlog of gratuities running to about 10 years without payment but the board with the mandate of the state government verified them an reduced it to about N2.6billion saving over N1billion.
