‘We don’t know if rat ate, or snake swallowed retirees N14b gratuity’ – Gombe Gov
Chima Azubuike, Gombe
Gombe Governor, Muhammadu Yahaya, has said he is unsure where previous administration applied retirees benefits,adding that it may have been swallowed by snake or eaten by rat.
Yahaya wondered the whereabouts of the 14billion naira outstanding gratuity of workers. However, failed to state to what extent the government had gone in locating the funds.
The Governor who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Ibrahim Njodi, made the disclosure on Monday, at the disbursement of 755million naira to 1,300 State Government retirees.
Recall that retired civil servants had in February, blocked the gate leading to the Government House, especially the Local Government retirees over months of delay of monthly pension and their gratuity.
Yahaya said, “Government came in and met a backlog of issues, a responsible government will not just give money without knowing to whom and why. whether the person is entitled to what he is getting or not getting or been underpaid. So that we pay only those who deserve to be paid.
“We came in to inherit a backlog of 14 billion naira, where are they since we came since May 2019, we have been trying to trace where the money is; we don’t know if it is the rat that took the money, or snake that have come to swallow them.”
While calling on the retirees to be patient as the Yahaya led administration resolves the debt, he stressed that government is not celebrating the payment which has dragged since 2015.
“We had started with first tranche of payment for 2014. In 2021, we are paying 2015, We feel saddened and we are not celebrating, we are not happy we should be paying 2020 and not 2015 in 2021,” he said.
Also, Binta Malle, a retiree while thanking the Government for the disbursement of gratuity said “we would like to take this as our own Covid-19 palliative.”
On his part, Chairman Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Gombe State council, Mohammed Abubakar urged the Government to continue the process of settling retirees package.
He said, “We want this sustained, there are so many people that are waiting especially those that retired since 2015- 2016. Many people want their money to solve personal problems such as hospital bills, school fees.”
