Matthew Otoijagha
The Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Almakura, has approved an increase in minimum pension for the state retirees from N5, 000 to N10, 000, Mr. Abdullahi Sani-Oseze, Director-General, Nasarawa State Pension Bureau has disclosed.
Sani-Oseze made the disclosure in an interview in Lafia. He said the state government made the adjustment to make life more meaningful for the pensioners. “I have submitted a memo to this effect to the governor and he has graciously approved it.
“We are just waiting for the release of funds to enable us to implement the new increase,” he said.
He added that the governor had also given the bureau the go-ahead to computerize the records of pensioners under its payroll for prompt payment of pension and gratuities and to detect ghost pensioners.
The director-general said that the planned computerization, when operational, would also go a long way in preventing alteration of vital documents. Sani-Oseze blamed improper record keeping of pensioners to analogue nature of keeping records in the state.
“The system whereby records of retirees are kept in piles of files in offices, in which case they could be eaten by rodents cannot continue in my tenure. The records of retirees from the state government and local government areas will be fully automated. The director-general assured the pensioners that the bureau would continue to do everything possible to ensure that they received their pension and gratuity as and at when due.