From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri on Monday signed the 2023 Appropriation Bill of N389.37 billion into law.
He also made history by signing a bill on the state’s Contributory Pension Scheme for civil servants, local government workers and political appointees.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Abraham Ingobere, who led other lawmakers to present the two bills for assent at the Government House in Yenagoa, explained that the state and local government workers would be required to contribute 8% of their salaries towards their retirement while the state government and local government councils as their employers would contribute 10% on their behalf.
Ingobere stated that political officeholders are expected to contribute 10% of their salaries while the state government and local government councils contribute 15% on their behalf upon their retirement or disengagement from the service.
Speaking on the 2023 Appropriation Law, Mr Ingobere disclosed that the lawmakers after due with ministries, departments and agencies increased the budget by N4 billion to bring the total amount to N389.37 billion for the 2023 fiscal year.
Diri while assenting to the bills noted that the Contributory Pension Law would put an end to the long delay and harrowing experience retirees go through before receiving their gratuities and other entitlements.
He stressed that the pension scheme had to be backed by law because of its importance, which he noted would outlive his administration.
According to him, the scheme covers all employees of the state as well as political office holders both at the state and local government levels.
Diri assured workers that government would ensure that proper machinery was put in place to engage only reputable pension fund administrators to manage the funds in accordance with pension regulations.
“Upon assumption of office, we discovered that some of our elder statesmen that had served our state meritoriously over the period had died without collecting their gratuity. Most of them have been owed in arrears to the tune of billions of naira.
“l sat with my team to fashion out a way to pay off these elder statesmen. What we are doing is a policy of the government and we thought it needed to be backed by law. That was why we sent an Executive Bill to the House of Assembly to cater for our retirees,” he said.
“When we assumed office (in February 2020), a minimum of N200 million monthly was made available for the payment of gratuities and we have been doing that faithfully. And in some months, we increased it to N500 million.
“To date, an average of N862.6 million has been expended monthly on pension issues. Also, N7.58 billion has been paid as gratuity and death benefits from February 2020 til date. However, in spite of these payments made, the huge liability of over N28 billion for outstanding gratuity and death benefits from 2007 to date still stands.
“Going forward, we will ensure that the over N28 billion owed retirees are paid off within my first term in office.”