Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has paid over seven billion Naira gratuities being owed to State and local government retirees.
DAILY POST reports that the State Government established a committee on January 26, 2024, to verify unpaid gratuity for state workers who retired between 2015 and 2024 and local government pensioners between 2012 and 2019.
In a statement issued on Thursday in Gusau, the governor’s spokesperson, Sulaiman Bala Idris, disclosed that N7.3b was paid as a backlog of gratuities in seven batches.
The statement further added that the process of settling the owed gratuity is progressing smoothly and recording tremendous success.
“The Zamfara State Government, under Governor Dauda Lawal, is committed to clearing the backlog of over N13 billion gratuities owed to retired LGAs and State civil servants.
“It is disappointing that Zamfara workers experienced hardship due to non-payment of their retirement benefits by previous administrations, which Governor Lawal promptly addressed by settling the backlog.
“The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th batches of 1,926 out of the 3,880 verified State pensioners were paid their total gratuity entitlements totaling N3,345,642,807.22, out of the total N8,095,948,906.63 owed.
“The seventh batch of 215 verified State pensioners with gratuity arrears worth N499,886,578.77 was recently paid.
“On the other hand, 3,513 retired Local Government and Primary School Teachers have been paid in seven batches totaling N3,500,145,532.43.
“This effort will continue as it is part of the state government’s commitment to revamp the Zamfara civil service for improved efficiency and effectiveness,” he said.