By Segun Awofadeji
In his continued commitment and determination to improve the welfare of retirees in the state, the Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has approved the release of N755 million for the payment of outstanding gratuities to retired civil servants in the state.
The governor also reiterated the commitment of the government to the payment of outstanding pensions of retirees of the local government areas.
At the inception of his administration, Yahaya had approved the payment of over N1.6 billion gratuity arrears.
The governor also restated his commitment to paying the monthly pension arrears of local government retirees who, due to lack of funds at the local government, have not been paid their pensions for some time now.
Any difference in the required pension monthly payment will be augmented and paid by the state government, he said.
Also, the administration of Yahaya inherited liabilities of gratuity arrears of over N14 billion from the past administration which had abandoned the payment of the retirees entitlement since 2014.
The N755 million has already been released to the committee constituted by the governor to ensure payment of pensions and gratuity arrears headed by the state Auditor General.
According to a state issued by the Director-General, Press Affairs, Government House, Ismaila Uba Misilli, which was made available to journalists yesterday, the committee charged with the responsibility of reviewing and ascertaining the correctness of the outstanding gratuity would soon announce the date for the commencement of payment.
