Zulum clears 1,814 teachers’ gratuity backlog with N2bn

Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, has offset N2 billion gratuity backlog owed to 1,814 retired primary school teachers who served under the Borno State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) between 2007 and 2016.

The Executive Chairman of Borno State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Prof Bulama Kagu, said the payment underscores the governor’s commitment to settling all outstanding pensions and gratuities owed to retired civil servants.

“Today, 1,814 retired teachers across Borno’s 27 local government areas will finally smile home with their entitlements,” Kagu said.

Breakdown of beneficiaries by LGA includes: Maiduguri – 313; Hawul – 172; Askira-Uba – 156; Gwoza – 124; Bama – 119; Jere – 98; Biu – 79; Konduga – 71; Shani – 81; and several others.

The chairman noted that other key achievements of the board under Zulum include the construction of 30 mega schools across the 3 senatorial districts in the state.

“The governor also constructed 582 new classrooms, remodelled/rehabilitated 834 classrooms and procured 45,511 pupils’ furniture and 1,500 teachers’ furniture,” he said.

He also procured 27 brand new 4×4 Toyota Hilux vans for each LGA as school monitoring vehicles, recruited 3,000 qualified teachers, and intensively trained over 5,000 teachers.

“Governor Zulum was in the forefront of N70,000 new minimum wage payment to teachers when implemented in the country,” he said.

Kagu noted that the cumulative effect of these achievements had resulted in a significant reduction of out-of-school children from 1.3 million to 700,000 and boosted the enrollment drive across the state.

Governor Zulum recently disclosed that his administration has paid nearly N25 billion in gratuities to retired civil servants since assuming office in 2019.