Gombe govt approves N5.2 billion for gratuity payment

The Gombe State Executive Council has approved approximately N5.2 billion for the payment of gratuities to retirees in the state and the local government.

This decision was announced by the Commissioner for Information, Mijinyawa Tilde, during a media conference at the end of the council’s 36th meeting, which was presided over by Governor Muhammadu Yahaya.

According to Tilde, nine memos were presented before the council, all of which were approved and ratified.

He noted that this was the fifth time the present administration was settling outstanding gratuities inherited from previous administrations.

The Commissioner for Finance, Muhammad Magaji, further explained that N2.291 billion would be used to offset the gratuities of the state’s civil service workers, particularly for the 2018 retirees.

“This is the fifth time since this current administration took office that the government is clearing the backlog.

“This time, N2.291 billion is earmarked for the payment of gratuity to deserving and other entitlements of the state’s 2018 retirees,” Magaji added.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Community Development, Abdulkadir Waziri, stated that the council approved the payment of gratuities to retired local government workers from all 11 Local Government Councils.

“For payment of gratuities to retirees of local government service of all the 11 Local Government Councils, the local government contributory fund has already earmarked over N3 billion for the payment of retirees.

“Local Governments are going to pay the backlog up to 2022; some will pay at least two years each.

“This has gone a long way in realising the efforts of His Excellency to reduce the burden of retirees and to better the lives of citizens,” Waziri stated.

On other approvals given by the Finance Ministry, Magaji stated that there was an approval of N332m for the payment of compensation to property owners at Bauchi and Dukku motor parks in Gombe metropolis.

He added, “The governor had constituted a task force/committee to assess properties in those locations, after which they submitted their report and a compensation committee was asked to do a review that was today submitted to the council and N332 million was approved for the payment of the compensation.

“This is to provide for the relocation of the motor parks to the Mega Motor Park that has been completed by this administration.”

Governor Yahaya had previously disclosed that the state received N2 billion out of the N5 billion subsidy removal palliative set by the Federal Government, which was distributed as palliatives to the people of Gombe State.