0sun State Government has released the sum of N1 billion to pay arrears owed retirees in the state. The money is an addition to the earlier payment made on the 142 percent pension arrears.
Wale Bolorunduro, the state’s Commissioner for Finance, said that in order to ensure an immediate settlement of the arrears, Governor Rauf Aregbesola has approved that the sum of N1 billion be released immediately by the state’s treasury to the retirees that were forced to retire by the last administration.
“in continuation of its fulfillment of its decision to improve on the welfare of its citizens, particularly to the senior citizens, the state government has commenced payment of the pension arrears that emanated from the administrative bottlenecks and improper cash flow planning attributable to the last administration in the state,” Bolorunduro said.
Bolorunduro said in a statement in Osogbo, the state capital that the state will continue to uphold the welfare of its senior citizens as one of its topmost priorities.
“The challenges actually commenced with the huge 142 percent pension arrears, the current administration inherited from the last administration in 2010. At the inception of the current administration, the state’s liability on the 142 percent pension arrears was about N4 billion.
“In demonstration of the magnanimity of the present government, up to N1.2billion of the inherited liability hitherto unattended to by the previous administrations was paid” he added.
He further explained that the impact of the mass retirement of the state’s employees in late 2012, given their unwillingness to join the contributory pension scheme in the state also contributed in no small measure to the current challenges and the origin of 2011/2012 Retiree forum.
According to the commissioner, aside from the fact that the previous administration that approved the forceful retirement of the group of the referenced retirees did not consider the cash flow implication when granting the approval of the forceful exit, the administrative bottlenecks in processing retirees’ entitlements contributed to the problem.
The last administration, according to him, failed to automate the manual processing of retirees’ benefits to take care of the surge in their number, thereby leading to delay of processing the Authority to collect (ATC) papers of the retired personnels.
He noted that it consequently led to the situation whereby some people who retired since December 2012 were unable to submit their authority to collect until later month such as November 2013. “This is the genesis of the pension arrears. Government has however kept pace to pension-roll the retirees as soon as their Authority papers are submitted.”
Bolorunduro stressed that for avoidance of doubts, over 5,000 employees of the state joined the existing over 9,000 retirees in the state, while the local government retirees schedule also increased by about 3,500 adding that the fresh recruitment conducted in 2013 by the state was to fill the numerous vacancies created by the massive retirement.
“In the middle of all these, the retirees continue to enjoy their monthly emoluments (in form of pension), albeit slightly reduced by 15 percent” he mentioned.
The impact of the 2011/2012 retirement, he said was an unprecedented surge in the state’s salary and pension obligations from N250million in November 2011 to N600 million monthly now, and the creation of relatively young retirees, called 2011/2012 Retirees Group.
He however stated that in further demonstration of the current administration’s humane spirit and resolution to ensure that the interest of all and sundry in the state is well protected, the state has further earmarked the sum of N1 billion towards payment of the established outstanding liability on the pension.
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