Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Yahaya on Thursday spoke out about his commitment to paying staff gratuities, contrasting his approach with that of the previous administration led by Hassan Dankwambo.
The governor made this disclosure during the swearing in of five permanent secretaries and reception for quranic recitation winners at the banquet hall of Gombe Government House.
Our correspondent reports that Yahaya took over as governor in 2019 from current senator representing Gombe North Dr Hassan Dankwambo. As at January 6 current administration claimed to have settled N17.2 billion out of N21bn owed retirees by previous government.
Yahaya noted that since taking office, he has ensured that staff gratuities are paid annually, unlike the previous administration, which reportedly refused to pay gratuities from 2014 to 2019, accumulating an unpaid debt of about N21 billion.
“Two to three days that passed we distributed gratuity for workers from 2019 to 2023, about 2,260 people costing about 4.2 billion to settle them.
“Since I became governor there was no year that passed without me paying for staff gratuity.
“But because the previous government (Hassan Dankwambo), deliberately refused to pay since 2014 (five years) in the state till they left, they didn’t pay. And for LGAs since 2012 to 2019 (seven years) they didn’t pay, if you total that, that’s about 21 billion debt unpaid,” he said.
He criticised the former administration, stating that the governor didn’t pay people but he paid himself and left.
Yahaya continued saying, “Me I will not do the same by God’s grace, not to pay people their rights and just pack up money and go. There is no excuse for a governor who spent years in service not to pay gratuity. He didn’t pay people but he paid himself and left.”
Governor Yahaya reaffirmed his commitment to settling all outstanding gratuities before leaving office, stressing that it is the governor’s responsibility to ensure that staff receive their rightful payments.
“Me (Muhammadu Yahaya), i will make sure I pay off all outstanding money before I leave,” he added.
