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From Paul Orude, Bauchi
Bauchi State government has disbursed the total sum of ₦5.2 billion in gratuities to retirees who retired from the state and local government services, with payments for the 2015 batch scheduled to commence on Monday.
The payments, which began three weeks ago, compriser ₦3.1 billion for local government retirees and ₦2.1 billion for state government retirees.
Muhammad Kabir Sizwe, who spoke on local government retirees, and Kola Oyerinde, who spoke on state government retirees, disclosed this during a press briefing on Sunday at the North East Chamber of Government House, Bauchi.
The officials provided an update on the ongoing exercise and urged retirees who missed earlier payment schedules to come forward and process their benefits.
They specifically appealed to retirees from 2012, 2013 and 2014 who did not participate in previous exercises to take advantage of the forthcoming 2015 payment window.
According to the officials, the number of retirees who turned up for the 2014 exercise was lower than expected, prompting the decision to accommodate those who missed the opportunity during the next phase.
For the state, 583 retirees were expected to participate in the 2014 exercise, but only 442 turned up.
Similarly, 769 local government retirees were expected, while 670 appeared for the exercise..
The officials urged those who did not turn up during the 2014 exercise to come forward during the 2015 payment period to enable them to process their outstanding benefits.
They said the 2015 exercise would commence on Monday and continue for seven days, ending the following Monday, although additional days might be allowed to accommodate those who needed more time to complete the process.
The officials added that the authorities would likely allow a buffer period until Tuesday or Wednesday before concluding the exercise and preparing for the 2016 batch.
Speaking on behalf of labour, Ibrahim Maikudi said there was no case of missing files, explaining that some files had been misplaced but would be recovered as the exercise progressed.
He assured affected retirees that once their files were recovered, they would be paid accordingly.
Maikudi said organised labour was satisfied with the way and manner the payment exercise had progressed so far.
He, however, appealed to the government to release additional funds when the initial ₦10 billion allocation was exhausted to enable the authorities to continue paying retirees up to the 2024 batch.
He expressed hope that the government would take the necessary steps to ensure that the payment exercise continued.
Maikudi also disclosed that 243 retirees who missed the 2012 and 2013 exercises were being considered for payment.
He explained that the files of the affected retirees were being verified and would be forwarded to the technical committee once the verification process was completed.
The figures presented at the briefing showed that 947 state government pensioners and 1,790 local government pensioners had so far been paid under the exercise.
The officials said the process had been progressing smoothly over the past three weeks, although efforts were continuing to recover misplaced files and address other challenges encountered during the exercise.
They also called for wider publicity to ensure that eligible retirees in the affected local government areas were aware of the payment schedule and could contact the relevant pension desk officers to process their benefits.
The officials expressed optimism that the exercise would continue as the authorities worked towards completing payments for the outstanding batches.
