Pensioners in Niger State have commended the Governor Abubakar Sani Bello-led government for clearing all arrears.
They said no pensioner in the state is owed as at today.
Making this disclosure, the Niger State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners told journalists on Tuesday that the state government has cleared the bills.
Accordingly, the State Secretary of the union, Comrade Abdullahi Baba Sani, said: “No member of our union is owed monthly pension at State and local government levels.
“Our monthly pension is paid up to date.
“The allegations making round that the state was owing pensioners 36 months pension is not true.
“Between March 2016 and June this year, government had paid over N2.1 billion as pension and gratuities to both state and local governments retirees under the old scheme.”
Also, the Director General of the State Pensions Board, Usman Ahmed, at a briefing on Tuesday disclosed that the state is not owing retirees entitlements under the old pension scheme.
Ahmed explained that pensioners that fell under the new Contributory Pension Scheme were yet to start collecting their entitlements.
The Director General of the Pensions Board said 940 retirees in the local governments had enjoyed their benefits, while a total of 388 pensioners from the state civil service had been paid.
According to him, government was still working out the augmentation for pensioners as a result of the increase in salary of workers between 2002 and 2014.
He explained further that government was finding it difficult to find a solution to the problem associated with the payment of retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
Ahmed said: “The CPS is a problem.
“The problem is not caused by this government.
“We have sent a bill to the House of Assembly that if passed into law will solve the problem.”
Ahmed added that the Board assisted 48 workers that retired before the suspension of the CPS in 2014 to collect their entitlements.
– Dan Atori