Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has announced the approval of N1.6 billion for the payment of gratuities owed to retired civil servants for the year 2012.
Sule made the disclosure on Thursday in Lafia, the state capital, during the distribution of 100 electric vehicles and tricycles to youths across the state’s 13 local government areas as part of an empowerment initiative.
The governor explained that his administration had already cleared gratuities for retirees in the state civil service from 1996 to 2011.
“This year, at the state level, we are also paying all the 2012. We will be paying them 100 per cent of their money amounting to N1.6 billion,” he said.
Sule further announced that the state government would provide N600 million in support to local government councils to enable them to settle part of their own gratuity obligations.
“For the retired civil servants, if you remember, we started this payment of gratuity from the year 1996 to 2011, and they have been fully paid,” he noted.
The governor, however, expressed concern over the wage structure at the local government level, warning that overstaffing remained the major reason councils struggled with gratuity payments.
“Every year, the LGAs leave gratuity between N5 billion and N6 billion; there is no way they will be able to pay,” he said.
Sule, therefore, urged the Nasarawa State House of Assembly to conduct an audit of the 13 local government councils as part of its oversight functions to ascertain the actual staff strength.
