AbdulRaheem Aodu
Kaduna state government is preparing a bill to be sent to the Kaduna State House of Assembly for review of the contributory pension scheme implementation in the state to make the process more effective and efficient, Governor Mukhtar Yero, has said.
Addressing the 2014 Civil Service Week yesterday in Kaduna with the theme: “African Charter on Values and Principles of Africa Public Service and Administration: A tool for enhancing Governance in the open Government Era,” Yero urged civil servants to be serious with their work. He noted that professionalism that is being engendered by the ongoing civil service reforms would bring rapid growth and development to the state through effective administration.
He said: “We are currently reviewing the implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme to make it more effective. An amendment proposed to the existing law is being studied for presentation to the state legislature. If the amendment is passed, all civil servants that have less than 10 years to retire at the commencement of the law in 2008, would be exempted from participating in the scheme as against the existing provision of three years.
“The amendment is necessary to address the present challenges being faced in the implementation of the new pension scheme. Government is also addressing the problems faced by our existing pensioners, especially those in the local governments, to bring succour to their families.
“At the beginning of this year, we conducted a retreat for members of the State Executive Council, as policy makers, and permanent secretaries being initiators and implementers of policies, for a better understanding of their individual roles and to foster the much needed synergy. Training for other categories of civil servants is now being conducted based on the provisions of our Human Resource Development (HRD) policy.”