By George Coben, Bauchi
The high-powered committee on Verification and Payment of Gratuities to Bauchi State Retired Civil Servants, has on Monday, begun payment to 2015 Retirees.
The committee which announced the commencement in a press briefing at the Government House, Bauchi said that out of the N10 billion set aside by the government for gratuity payments, N 5.2 billion has so far been expended, remaining N 4.8 billion.
Members of the committe; Kola Oyerinde, Kabir Mohammed, and Ibrahim Inuwa, who took turns to speak said that the N 5.2 billion represented the amount expended in payment of retirees from 2012 to 2014.
While saying that this covered both the state and local government retirees, they stated that they would continue payment to exhaust the remaining N 4.8 billion, before the gracious release of additional funds.
Ibrahim Inuwa, who is the Executive Secretary of the Bauchi State Contributory Pension Commission, PENCOM, said that the commission was working hard to modernise the data base of all civil servants.
He stressed that this would help prevent cases of misplaced files, and commended Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, for his support.
The Executive Secretary disclosed that validation of retirees from 2017 to 2021 would be carried out as the on going payments of gratuities were for the ones validated from 2012 to 2016.
Also speaking, the representative of Organised Labour in Bauchi State, Comrade Ibrahim Maikudi, applauded the government for the exercise and pledged Labour’s continued support to ensure payment of the backlog of gratuities in the State is cleared for sustainable growth and development.
The committe assured that payments would still be made to those who could not show up before it because of health challenges or old age.
