Retirees in Jigawa State have finally heaved a sigh of relief after collecting their retirement benefits.
OsunDailyNG reports that the Jigawa State and Local Government Contributory Pension Scheme was unable to pay gratuity and retirement benefits for months due to some problems that put the scheme in distress.
Governor Umar Namadi, however, inaugurated a committee of experts to review and find out the reason for the delayed payment of retired civil servants.
Some of the reasons include failure to remit at least N3.2b in statutory pension deductions and contributions in 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2021 by the 27 local governments of the state due to the mass retirement of local government staff.
The employment gap for many years has seriously paralyzed the scheme as the number of retired civil servants is above the available funds.
The state executive council recently approved the securing of a N2 billion loan to pay the gratuities of retired civil servants.
Executive Secretary, Jigawa State and Local Government Contributory Pension Scheme Board, Kamilu Musa said the scheme has paid over N1.823b as terminal benefit to 702 workers who exited from active service between the period of 2023 to January 2024.
Musa called on citizens of the state to continue to support the government with their prayers in order to achieve a better Jigawa where everyone would be comfortable in the shared prosperity agenda.
According to him, “the prompt payment of pension has helped to breathe life into the heart of pensioners.”
