Zamfara State Government has begun the payment of the backlog of N13.4 billion in gratuities to retired civil servants in the state.
Recall that the state government had established a committee to authenticate retired civil servants’ data to pay off the gratuity debt accumulated from 2011 to date.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the spokesman of the Governor, Sulaiman Bala Idris, revealed that the retirees who have been owed gratuities since 2011 finally started receiving their payments.
The statement added that the backlog of gratuities accumulated over the years is now being cleared and payment commenced on Thursday.
“The State government has taken a significant step towards addressing the outstanding debt of gratuity owed to retirees, which comprises death gratuities, retirement gratuities, and contract gratuities”, the statement added.
“Governor Dauda Lawal set up a committee to validate and authenticate retiree data to settle the debt of gratuities that has accumulated since 2011″
“After validating the data of retired civil servants, the government discovered that the total amount owed from state and local governments is 13.4 billion Naira”
“The committee has already gone far with the authentication of data submitted by local government and state pension commission and physical verification of beneficiaries”