The Katsina state government has disbursed N13.5 billion to settle outstanding pensions and gratuity owed retirees.
The amount covered payment of outstanding liabilities to 2,313 retirees in the state and local government services since inception of the Dikko Radda administration.
The state deputy governor, Faruk Lawal-Jobe said this at a news conference on Thursday in Katsina.
He said that, “the government has approved the payment of outstanding gratuity to the tune of N24,015,813,656.03 for both state and local governments retirees.
“So far, out of the approved amount, the sum of N7,690,750,198.63 and N5,831,426,398.72, totaling N13,522, 176,597.35 has been disbursed to 2,313 retirees respectively, as at 26th Nov. 2024”.
Lawal-Jobe said the state government expended N90 million on the training of 3,200 civil servants to fast track migration to e-governance.
He said the government also spent N333.8 million on training of 947 workers as part of its drive to build the capacity of its workforce for effective service delivery.
As motivation, he said, the government released N200 million as refurbishment loans to civil servants, to augment the N250 million already running under the scheme.
He said that N957.3 million was expended on payment of wage award and Ramadan package to workers and retirees during the period under review, adding that the administration also introduced annual merit award for the best performing workers.
“In this regard 14 workers had been identified for their outstanding performances where some of them got vehicles, while others recieved N2 million award each,” he said.
According to Lawal-Jobe, appointment of the permanent secretaries is now base on merit, as the process requires writing of examination and oral interview with a view to select the best into the public service.
He said that recruitments into the civil service was also based on merit, adding that the same process applied to the promotions for senior officers in the service of the state and local governments. (NAN).
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