N5bn Paid to Zamfara Retirees Owed Gratuities for 13 Years, Says Gov Lawal

Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, said he had paid off more than N5 billion, being 13 years backlog of gratuities owed retired civil servants.
A statement on Sunday by the Governor’s spokesperson, Sulaiman Bala Idris, explained that
government began paying the outstanding gratuities in February to state and local government workers after they were authenticated and validated.
He said that government paid a total of N5,347,243,210.00 in gratuities to state and local government retirees.
According to the statement, “2,209 retired local government and primary school teachers were paid and 1,642 retired state workers were paid in five batches.
“The 4,198 retired state workers were owed a total sum of N8,095,948,906.63.
“The first, second, third and fourth batches of 1,382 out of the 4,198 verified state pensioners were paid their total gratuity entitlements of N2,336,271,961.37 out of the total N8,095,948,906.63 owed.
“The fifth batch of 260 verified state pensioners with gratuity arrears amounting to N510,094,956.35 were paid recently.
“Similarly, a total of 465 retired local government and primary school teachers were paid gratuity sum of N500,969,762.47 during the fifth batch.
“On the other hand, 2,209 retired local government and primary school teachers were paid in five batches totalling N2,500,876,293.16. The beneficiaries of the payments are those who retired from 2012 to 2019.”