Matthew Otoijagha
Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said his administration would soon come up with creative ways to clear pensioners’ unpaid gratuities that had accumulated over the years.
Fayemi, who restated the state government’s commitment to ameliorating the plight of pensioners in the state, decried the hardship pensioners in the state were passing through as a result of non-payment of their gratuities and irregular payment of pension.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Yinka Oyebode, in Ado Ekiti on Monday, stated that Fayemi made the disclosure during a meeting with the executive members of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Ekiti State Chapter at the weekend.
According to him, the pensioners, led by NUP State Chairman, Elder Ayo Kumapayi had paid the governor a visit to congratulate him on the recent Court of Appeal victory and to thank him for the regular payment of their pensions monthly since October 2018.
Fayemi said his administration had put a temporary measure on the ground through a 1000 per cent increase in the fund meant for gratuity monthly, from N10m to N100m monthly to capture more pensioners in the process, adding that he would ensure that he continued to meet government obligations to pensioners.
He said, “We are looking at other creative ways. What we are doing right now is mainly a stop gap measure to ensure that the number of people who can access gratuity increases because how many retirees can N10m cater for?”