By Rauf Oyewole
The Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed has expended the sum of N5.2bn backlogs of gratuity to 2,737 retirees of 2012, 2013, and 2014 in both local and state governments.
According to the committee on payment of the gratuities led by a former Secretary to the State Government, Alh. Sabiu Baba, the next face will settle retirees of 2015 starting Monday, 26 October.
Members of the Committee, Alh. Muhammad Kabir Sizwe, who spoke on local government retirees, and Kola Oyerinde, who spoke on state government retirees, so far the Committee has spent N2.1bn on state government retirees and N3.1bn on local government retirees. They said that the balance of the fund, out of the N10billion allocated by the state government.
The committee urged the retirees who missed their payment to step forward for their benefits. According to the officials, the number of retirees who turned up for the 2014 exercise was lower than expected, prompting the decision to accommodate those who missed the opportunity during the next phase.
For the state, 583 retirees were expected to participate in the 2014 exercise, but only 442 turned up.
For the local government, 769 retirees were expected, while 670 appeared for the exercise.
They said the 2015 exercise would commence on Monday and continue for seven days, ending the following Monday, although additional days might be allowed to accommodate those who needed more time to complete the process.
