Governor Isa Yuguda

Behind that handsomeness, the smile and carriage which get him so much admiration, Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State carries with him a major burden. His government owes its retirees N11 billion backlog of gratuity.

This was confirmed by Abdon Gin An, the Head of Service, HOS, of the state at a news conference in Bauchi where he also disclosed that an average of 50 civil servants retired every month from the state’s civil service.

He said the development had led to high number of pensioners in the state which currently stood at 7,192.
The HOS said the increasing number of retires could be due to massive retirement on the attainment of 35 years of service or 60 years of age, as stipulated in the civil service rule.

“Also of importance is the fact that workers no longer alter their dates of first appointment or date of birth, as was the case in the past,” he said.

He said that the increasing number of retirees, coupled with the ever-dwindling resources from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, had led to the gratuity backlog.

Gin, however, said that steps were being taken to off-set the backlog.

The HOS disclosed that to ensure prompt payment of pension and gratuity entitlements to retirees, the government had started arrangements to adopt the modified Contributory Pension Scheme in the state.

He said that a committee had already been inaugurated to that effect and it had been working for the take-off of the scheme.

Gin said that the scheme, if constituted, would solve the problem of gratuity and pension payments which remained a challenge, especially for states that were yet to key into the scheme.

He said that Gov. Isa Yuguda had done a lot for pensioners in the state from the inception of his administration in 2007 to date.

“On assumption of office in 2007, Yuguda paid N600 million pension and gratuity arrears he inherited from past administration.

“Also, in November 2008, the governor approved an upward review of pension rates from N4,500 to N7,900 and increased the monthly allocation of Local Government Pension Board from N102 million to N141 million monthly.

“In 2013, the governor further increased the minimum pension from N7,900 to N12,900 for the state and the local government pensioners.

“So far, more than N239 million is being expended monthly on pensioners and as at today, there is no arrear of pension in the civil service because pensioners are being paid when due,” Gin said.