The Katsina state government has disbursed ₦13.5 billion to settle outstanding pensions and gratuity owed retirees. The amount covered payment of outstanding liabilities to 2,313 retirees in the state and local government services since inception of the Dikko Radda administration.
The state deputy governor, Faruk Lawal-Jobe, said this at a news conference on Thursday in Katsina.
He said that, “the government has approved the payment of outstanding gratuity to the tune of N24,015,813,656.03 for both state and local governments retirees.
“So far, out of the approved amount, the sum of N7,690,750,198.63 and N5,831,426,398.72, totaling N13,522, 176,597.35 has been disbursed to 2,313 retirees respectively, as at 26th Nov. 2024.”
Lawal-Jobe said the state government expended ₦90 million on the training of 3,200 civil servants to fast track migration to e-governance. He said the government also spent ₦333.8 million on training 947 workers as part of its drive to build the capacity of its workforce for effective service delivery. As a morale booster to the civil servants, he said, the government released ₦200 million as refurbishment loans to civil servants, to augment the ₦250 million already running under the scheme.
He said that ₦957.3 million was expended on payment of wage award and Ramadan package to workers and retirees during the period under review, adding that the administration also introduced an annual merit award for the best performing workers.
“In this regard 14 workers had been identified for their outstanding performances where some of them got vehicles, while others received N2 million award each,” he said.
According to Lawal-Jobe, appointment of the permanent secretaries is now based on merit, as the process requires writing of examination and oral interview with a view to select the best into the public service.
He said that recruitments into the civil service were also based on merit, adding that the same process applied to the promotions for senior officers in the service of the state and local governments.
(NAN)
