Kano Pension Fund Gives Update On N6bn Gratuities Payment

By Abdullahi Yusuf

The Kano State Pension Fund Trustees has urged the over 5,000 retirees scheduled for the payment of their gratuities and death benefits to exercise more patience as preparations have commenced for the settlement of the entitlements.

The State Government had recently set aside the sum of N6 billion to pay gratuities and death benefits of over five thousand retired civil servants in the state.

The government said the entitlements would be paid to retired officers in the lower cadre of the service.

The Executive Chairman of the Fund,Habu Muhammad Fagge,made the call while addressing newsmen in Kano on Wednesday.

Fagge said the preparations which included the sorting out of retirees’ files and other documents, were in top gear,and that payment of the entitlements would commence as soon as the exercise was completed.

He said the Fund is aware of the sacrifice the retirees and families of deceased officers had made over the years waiting for their entitlements,and commended them for their patience.

He also said that the Fund is fully aware of the positive socio-economic impact the N6 billion would make on the people of the state, when the money is released to the beneficiaries.

Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf who announced the gesture recently, said his administration had,on assumption of office, inherited a backlog of gratuities from the past administration, amounting to over N40 billion, and promised to clear it within two years.

He said he had utmost concern about the plight of retired civil servants who finished serving their state but were not paid their entitlements.

“I always sleep and wake up with the issue of gratuities of retired civil servants in my mind. I always think of how to settle and clear this backlog,” the governor said.