Workers’ Day: Gombe NLC stresses payment of gratuity for retirees

By Jedidah Silas Kima
Gombe

Joining other workers all over the world in marking the International Worker’s Day, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Gombe state council, has emphasised the need for Government to ensure proper settlement of gratuities for retirees in the state.
Speaking at the occasion in Gombe yesterday, the NLC state chairman, Comrade Haruna Kamara, said the success for governments in implementing its policies and programmes largely depended on the workers, hence the need for government to exhibit honesty in its monetary dealings by settling accumulated gratuities of the retirees.

He said: “Since monthly pensions and gratuities are the last hope for workers, we have come to a conclusion to prioritise the issue of gratuities of retirees and hereby, urge the government to settle all gratuities of our retirees, something urgent must have to be done to address these challenges despite the dwindling revenues accruing to the state from the federation account as workers are the engine room for development.”

In his remarks, at the occasion, the Gombe state Governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, represented by his deputy, Dr Charles Iliya, expressed government’s commitment in according priority to civil service in the state.
He said government had invested so much on employment, training of civil servants, departments and agencies of government, and local governments, even as he promised government’s commitment on doing more in the development of civil service in the state.
Chairman, Pensioner’s Association in Gombe, Mohammed Abubakar, disclosed to journalists in an interview that about 259 retirees had not yet been captured under the state pension scheme, adding that the state still owed pensioners about six years gratuity.