THE Zamfara State Government said it has paid about N5.3 billion to settle 13 years backlog of gratuity owed retired civil servants in the state.
Governor of the state, Dauda Lawal, disclosed this on Monday in a statement by his spokesman, Mr Suleiman Idris, in Gusau.
Lawal explained that his administration began the payment to state and local government retirees in February after a thorough verification exercise.
He said so far, the state government has settled N5.3 billion out of about N8.1 billion owed the retirees.
According to him, 2,209 retired local government and primary school teachers had been settled while about 1,642 retired state workers were paid in five batches.
“No fewer than 1,382 retirees out of the 4,198 verified state pensioners have been paid their gratuities totalling about N2.4 billion out of the N 8.1 billion owed them.
“Another batch of 260 verified state pensioners with gratuity arrears worth N510 million have been paid recently,” he said.
The governor added that another 465 retired local government and primary school teachers also received their gratuities totalling about N500 million in the fifth batch.
“On the other hand, 2,209 retired local government and primary school teachers have been paid N2.5 billion in five batches,” he said.
Lawal said the beneficiaries of the latest payments were those who retired between 2012 and 2019.
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