Governor of Akwa Ibom State Umo Eno has approved the immediate release of N4.755 billion for sundry welfare interventions for retired civil servants, wardrobe allowances, and student scholarships.
The chief press secretary (CPS), Ekerete Udoh, who spoke on behalf of his boss, gave the breakdown of the cash allocations. He said the approval of the funds became necessary to cushion the effects of the prevailing socio-economic challenges on senior citizens, students, and other downtrodden in the state.
He gave the breakdown as “N2.3 billion for gratuities for retired state civil servants, primary school teachers, and local government workers.
“N1.1 billion for the one-off payment of wardrobe allowance for the 20,345 public primary school, technical college, and secondary school teachers.
“N1 billion Naira for the payment of bonuses to each of the 52,000 public service workers, as announced by the governor during the recently concluded Public Service Week (PSW) events.
“The governor has also released the sum of N79 million for the award of full scholarships for four Akwa Ibom indigenes, who were recently granted admission to study the Standard Pilot Course and Standard Air Traffic Control Course at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.
“Additionally, N104 million has been released as the first tranche payment of the 2024 primary school teachers’ leave grant, and N172 million as a severance gratuity package for chairmen and vice-chairmen of local government councils who served from 2018-2022, amongst others.”