Bayelsa State will henceforth pay the gratuity and pension benefits of local government workers retiring from service not later than a month after their retirement.
Deputy Governor of the state, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, disclosed this on Wednesday, at an enlarged meeting with council chairmen, the auditor general for local government, officials from the local government pensions board, and other top government functionaries at the Government House, Yenagoa.
A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the deputy governor, Mr. Doubara Atasi, quoted the deputy governor as saying that the decision is not only part of ongoing reforms in the local government system, but most importantly, targeted at alleviating the sufferings of retirees.
Ewhrudjakpo, who decried the current procedure for processing retirees’ pension and gratuity as too slow and cumbersome, emphasised that the three-month pre-retirement period was long enough for any retiring worker to complete such statutory documentation.
He pointed out, however, that the government is putting the necessary modalities in place to ensure that retired staff get their full gratuity payment not later than 30 days after their exit from the local government service.
Consequently, he directed the Bayelsa State Local Government Service Commission and Pensions Board to provide retirement forms to all affected staff three months before their due date, warning that the situation where it takes several months to process retirement documents and the payment of illegal fees will no longer be tolerated.
The deputy governor noted that retirees deserve respect and rest, and therefore, should not be subjected to any form of suffering before receiving their statutory benefits.
“As far as I am concerned, the present system or process for the payment of gratuities and pensions is too cumbersome, complicated, time-consuming, and defective for my liking.
“I don’t think I can continue to preside over such an ineffective, vigorous, demeaning, and punitive system.
“I don’t see any reason why it should take two years for the processes to be completed for retired local government pensioners to be paid pensions and gratuities. That is why some people die before their pensions are ready.
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“We are submitting that in about one month, every pensioner should be through with the post-retirement processes and documentations, and he or she will be paid his or her money, immediately after retirement.
“The retirees are our staff, and so why are we making them go to the accountant general’s office, and other offices to collect one form or the other. After all, most of the information we need about them should be in the office, if we are really serious.
“These are people who have put in several years to serve the government, and they deserve respect and rest. And so, they should not be made to unnecessarily travel to offices for documentation purposes,” he said.
On the issue of unclaimed cheques from the last tranche of gratuity payment, Ewhrudjakpo directed the leadership of the local government chapter of the pensioners’ union to mandate two persons in each local government for effective information dissemination to their members.
In their separate contributions, the Mayor of Yenagoa City Council, Mr. Bulodisiye Ndiwari, and the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Local Government Chapter, Mr. Noel Itade, commended the deputy governor for the new initiative aimed at promptly paying the gratuities of local government retirees.
