Governor Dauda Lawal has paid more than N5billion out of 13-year backlog of gratuities owed retired civil servants in Zamfara State.
The Zamfara State Government began paying the outstanding gratuities in February to State and Local Government workers after the retirees were authenticated and validated.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the spokesperson for the Zamfara State governor, Sulaiman Bala Idris, he revealed that the state government had paid 5,347,243,210.00 gratuities to state and local government retirees in five batches.
According to the statement, 2,209 retired local government and primary school teachers were paid, while 1,642 retired state workers were also paid.
“The 4,198 retired state workers were owed a total sum of N8,095,948,906.63.
“The first, second, third, and fourth batches of 1,382 out of the 4,198 verified state pensioners were paid their total gratuity entitlements totalling N2,336,271,961.37 out of the total N 8,095,948,906.63 owed.
“The fifth batch of 260 verified state pensioners with gratuity arrears worth N510,094,956.35 were recently paid.
Similarly, retired local government and primary school teachers totalling 465 were paid a gratuity sum of N500,969,762.47 during the fifth batch.
“On the other hand, 2,209 retired Local Government and Primary School Teachers have been paid in five batches totalling N2,500,876,293.16. The beneficiaries of the payments are those who retired from 2012 to 2019.”