Bauchi Govt Pays N3,418b Outstanding Gratuities
BY KHALID IDRIS DOYA, Bauchi
Chairman of the Bauchi State Pensions Board, Senator Bala Adamu Kariya said that his office from May 2019 to date received from the state government, and paid the sum of N3,418,288,11.68 as part of the outstanding gratuities the government is owing retired civil servants in the state.
Senator Bala Adamu Kariya at the ongoing reintroduced ministerial press briefing in Bauchi, yesterday did not however mention the gratuities backlog owned retirees, but he only said that the backlog is over N20 billioy.
He said that the total retirement from 2019, the inception date of the present PDP administration to date retirement is 4, 273 persons, 677 deceased or dead while in the service, from the 4, 948 files treated.
“The Board processes the files of civil servants billed for retirement. In other words, we are the custodian of processed files of all the State Civil Servants who retired from the service”, the chairman further told the press briefing.
Senator Adamu said however that in order to avoid further accumulation of Pension and Gratuity liabilities, the state government intends to commence the implementation of the proposed contributory pension scheme on the date from 30th June, 2021.
“As a sign of commitment, His Excellency the Executive Governor Sen. Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir appointed a 20 member committee including a staff of Messrs Premium Pension ltd. for technical guidance under the Chairmanship of Mr Abdon Dalla Gin (Special Adviser on Civil Service Matters)”.
“In line with the Terms of Reference to the Committee a final report with a draft bill has been carefully produced tapping from the 2004 Act, 2014 revised Act and previous efforts of successive State Administrations like the 2005 and 2017 draft bills was presented to His Excellency the Executive Governor Sen. Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir as appropriate”.
He recalled that Governor Bala Mohammed had presented the report to the State Executive Council for consideration and approval, following which a draft bill was forwarded to the State House of Assembly for further legislative process in line with the laid down constitutional procedure.
“After gathering the necessary stakeholders input, the State House of Assembly then ratified the draft and returned the same to the Executive Governor for assent. Consequently, on the 5th of August, 2022 His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Bauchi State assented to the bill enacted by the State House of Assembly”.
“It was named Bauchi State and Local Government Contributory Pension Scheme, the Law also provided for the establishment of Bauchi State and Local Government Contributory Pension Commission”.
“The State Governor approved the constitution of another high powered Committee under the Chairmanship of Ibrahim Muhammad Kashim, the Secretary to the State Government to facilitate the full implementation process of the new scheme in the State”.
Kariya further explained that prior to this development and as part of the prerequisite procedures for commencement of the scheme, the state government has appointed two firms of Pension Administrators (PFAs) who have now engaged stakeholders in a massive sensitization, advocacy and enlightenment of the scheme across the state.
The board chairman gave the pension administrators as Messrs Premium Pensions Limited & VERITAS Glanvills Pensions Limited, and the implementation committee has been able to carry out some of the necessary eligibility criteria for successful implementation of the scheme.
“It has produced organogram as a proposal for collapsing the present structure of the State and Local Government Pensions Boards in to the new Contributory Pension Commission, and collaborates with the appointed Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to facilitate the take-off of the new Bauchi State and Local Government Contributory Pension Scheme”.