By Aideloje Ojo
Minna
Director-General of the Niger state Pension Board, Muhammad Tinau Usman, yesterday handed over checks to over 1, 200 retirees in payment of backlog of gratuities forming the third batch in the efforts of government to settle pension arrears.
Speaking at the presentation of cheques to the third batch beneficiaries drawn from five local government areas in the state at the board secretariat in Minna, Usman assured that the government would continue to pay the pensioners their gratuities in batches until all were cleared.
He said the third batch of beneficiaries was made up of 415 pensioners with 50 from the state pensioners and the remaining beneficiaries drawn from the local government service retirees who retired under the old pension scheme.
He said the retirees who benefited in the third batch were drawn from Chanchaga, Lapai, Lavun, Shiroro and Agaie local government areas while the sum of N615 million was released for the payment of the beneficiaries in the third batch.
Usman said Governor Abubakar Sani Bello was fully committed to the welfare of pensioners in the state adding that this why he has made the monthly payment of pensioners a first line charge and remain one of the few states in the country that is not owing pensioners their monthly payment.
He said the governor had consulted with widely on ways of alleviating the sufferings of retirees who had been owed their gratuities over the years, adding that the governor graciously approved the payment of the backlogs of gratuities that fell under the old scheme.
