Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, on Thursday, presented a bond certificate worth N2.1 billion to pensioners in the State.
Speaking before the presentation at the Local Government Service Commission in Osogbo, the Governor asserted that he was aware of the level of inhumane treatment workers and pensioners have been subjected to, which prompted him to prioritize their welfare despite the paucity of funds.
“Despite the weak funding base of the State, we launched out in pursuance of our electoral pledge. Within a very tight financial regime, we are addressing outstanding pension and salary debt. We are gradually clearing outstanding arrears owed to workers, in and out of service.
“The template for payment that our government issued early this year is still very much in force. We are following it religiously. Even when the paucity of funds threatens implementation, I insisted we must act to satisfy our senior citizens who are suffering in retirement.
“Permit me to reassure our senior citizens that we are not and will never play politics with their welfare. I invite them to note that the economic mess we met on the ground was deeper than anybody can imagine.”
At the Local Government level, from November 2022, a sum of N7,329,225,294.74 had been released for payment of pensions, gratuity, and accrued rights benefits for local government and primary school retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme. While the bond certificates worth N1,242,927,554.31 were released to the same set of workers, totaling N8,572,152,849.05.
At the State Level, from November 2022, a sum of N4,088,006,280.43 had been released for payment of gratuity and accrued rights benefits of retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, secondary and tertiary institutions. This is apart from about N3.6bn committed to the payment of pension from December 2022 to date.
For retirees at the State level under the Contributory Pension Scheme, bond certificates worth N836,823,243.00 were distributed to them.
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