Kebbi State Government said it has so far expended a total of N10.8bn on the payment of gratuity liabilities to the state retirees through its automated payment platform to the beneficiaries bank accounts.
The state Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Ibrahim Muhammad Augie during a press briefing said over 7,000 out of the 13,000 retirees in the state have been cleared and paid gratuity.
He said verification was still ongoing to ensure the remaining retirees get their gratuities.
He said “Since inception Abubakar Atiku Bagudu administration been paying an average of N1.7bn for state and N1.6bn for LGAs and LGEAs as monthly salaries and N241m for state monthly pensions”.
He stated that the sum of N1bn was paid on 1/6 to all verified inherited retirees, in 2016/2017, the sum of N6bn was paid to verified retirees of LGAs and LGEAs and in 2018 another sum of N2.5bn was paid to them.
“This brought the total percentage of payment on all claims to about 67 percent”, he said.
Augie said additional sum of N1.3bn was approved and released by the governor and all retirees with balances from N11m and below numbering 1042 under the Kwaido Committee of 1/6 payment across the state LGAs were cleared.
He enjoined retirees to be patience as the government was committed to the payment of their gratuity after the verification exercise.