Kaduna State Government Releases N920 Million For Pensioners Few Days To Election

By Akinwale Kasali

With less than 72 hours to the Governorship and State House of Assembly Election, the Governor-Nasir El-Rufai Administration in Kaduna State has released the sum of N920 million for the settlement of outstanding pension liabilities which include death benefits and gratuity.

In a statement, the Government stated that the payment schedule which was dated March 9, 2023, comprises State and Local Government pensioners in the old Defined Benefits Scheme.

The statement further disclosed that State pensioners would get N400 million while Local Government beneficiaries will receive N520 million.

Governor  El-Rufai had, in November 2022, approved N900 million for the payment of Accrued Rights for retirees and families of deceased beneficiaries under the new Contributory Pension Scheme.

The Executive Secretary of Kaduna State Pension Bureau, Prof Salamatu Isah, had said that the amount covered batch 54 for the State and Local Government Retirees and families of the deceased.

Isah further explained that payment of Retirees under the contributory pension scheme is being done by the Pension Funds Administrators, adding that Government would only pay past savings.

According to her, such savings which are known as Accrued Rights is the Retirees’ entitlements prior to the commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme in 2017, and they are paid to PFAs instead of individual beneficiaries.

Giving a breakdown of the payment, the Executive Secretary said that N600,000,000 has been allocated to the State Retirees and deceased families, while N300,000,000 was allocated to Local Government Retirees and families of the deceased.

The November 2022 release came two weeks after El Rufai had approved N1, 160,000,000.00 for the payment of gratuity for batch 17 Local Government pensioners and batch 19 of State Government retirees and families of deceased under the old Defined Benefits Scheme.