Governor Umar Mohammed Bago of Niger State has approved the immediate release of N25 billion for the settlement of pensions and gratuities owed to pensioners in the state.
Bago made this announcement during the commissioning of 200 buses using compressed natural gas, CNG, a development that will ease transportation in Minna, the state capital.
The governor subsequently ordered that students be exempted from paying transport fares whenever they board the new buses, while civil servants and security agencies are to pay half of the fares.
Governor Bago also approved the remodelling of the pensioners’ secretariat, which has been in a dilapidated state for over 20 years. He further directed that all civil servants who are due for promotion in the state be promoted with immediate effect. However, he was silent over the minimum wage for workers.
Aside from commissioning the 200 CNG buses, he also inaugurated 50 patrol vehicles for security agencies as well as 50 waste disposal vehicles, while promising to purchase an additional 600 buses within the next six months.