The Oyo State Government has expressed its resolve to offset the backlog of gratuity owed retired workers in the state from 2013 to June 2020.
The state government also indicated that it had paid the sum of N1.4billion from January 2020 to August and added that in all, a total of 1,500 youth were trained on leadership and digital governance.
Prof. Daud Sangodoyin, Commissioner for Establishment and Training in Oyo State, gave this indication in Ibadan on Thursday while briefing journalists at his office in Ibadan.
Sangodoyin said it was the policy of the current administration in the state to pay the accrued gratuity while salaries, pensions and other emoluments would also be paid as and when due.
The Commissioner, who assured retirees in the state that the administration had allocated 70 percent of monthly gratuity allocation to retires from June 2013 according to their date of filing their retiring documents, said 20 percent from the monthly fund would go to retirees from the Judicial Service Commission while 10 percent would be dedicated to retirees that fall under health and compassionate ground.
He added, “The present administration has paid gratuity till August 2013 which amounts to N1.4billion and we still have N26billion target to cover, which is our goal. Governor Seyi Makinde has made it clear that the welfare of workers and retirees will be paramount in his policy decisions and that is why you have seen the dedication he has for the monthly funding for the disbursement of the gratuity.
“The policy of the present administration is centered on merit, openness and transparency. Those people on the list are paid chronologically from 2013. Those are the mainstream and they have 70percent of the monthly funding while the retirees from the Judicial Service Commission has 20percent and 10percent goes to those under health and compassionate grounds.
“A man was recently reported in the social media to need a certain amount of money to offset hospital bill and the news got to the governor. He directed the payment of his gratuity and also an old woman who came to complain that the banks wanted to take over her house due to loan she took, we had to pay her also under the health and compassionate vote.”
The Commissioner said the training of the state and local government workers was aimed at improving their efficiency and boost the state internally generated revenue.
Meanwhile, starting from September, workers in the state, who are six months to retirement, would be enrolled for a public-private exchange programme that would prepare them for life after retirement and how to engage their time in productive agricultural ventures in consonance with the state government’s policy of agricultural development for self reliance.
