The Executive Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, presented a bond certificates to contributory pensioners at all levels of government.
The certificates distribution took place at Government secretariat, in Osogbo the state capital on Thursday.
Sahel recalls that during Adeleke’s governorship campaign, he promised to put workers’ welfare as number one on his governance agenda.
During his address, Adeleke stated that he know the level of inhuman treatment Osun workers and pensioners have been subjected to, and he has promised, that if elected, pensioners will never be treated so badly again.
“The template for payment that our government issued early this year is still very much in force. We are following it religiously. Even when paucity of funds threatens implementation, I insisted we must act to satisfy our senior citizens who are suffering in retirement.
Adeleke also used the opportunity to reassure senior citizens that his administration will not and will never play politics with their welfare.
” I invite them to note that the economic mess we met on ground was deeper than anybody can imagine. The state purse was almost in the red with very harsh deductions and repayment.
” Today, we are gathered here for another piece of good news. While by July ending, we paid another batch of half salary debt, today it is the turn of contributory pensioners to smile.
” LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL Between November, 2022 and before today’s programme, a sum of N7,329,225,294.74 had been released for payment of pensions, gratuity, and accrued rights benefits for local government and primary school retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme Today, bond certificates worth N1,242,927,554.31 will be released to the same set of workers.
” Thus, from the inception of the administration to date, a total of N8,572,152,849.05 has been released. STATE LEVEL Between November, 2022 and before today’s programme, a sum of N4,088,006,280.43 had been released for payment of gratuity and accrued rights benefits of retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, secondary and tertiary institutions.
” This is apart from about N3.6bn committed to the payment of pension from December, 2022 to date. For retirees at the state level under the Contributory Pension Scheme, bond certificates worth N836,823,243.00 are to be distributed to them today.
” Thus, the commitment of government to the payment of gratuity and accrued rights benefits of retirees at the state level under the CPS to date is N4,924,829,243.00.
“The total we are handing out today is N2.1 billion Ladies and gentlemen, my dear senior citizens, our administration is innovating for a sustainable strategy to liquidate all outstanding pension and salary debt. We know how important these payments are to thousands of families.
He, however, reiterated that his administration is experimenting with various options that can reduce the cost of survival for pensioners.
“We are working to enrol pensioners in the state health insurance scheme. That is a line we are exploring to meet the health cost of our pensioners.
“We are still working on the details, but we are optimistic, it will be a huge step forward for our senior citizens. I therefore appeal to pensioners of all categories that we have them in mind.
“We are determined to satisfy their aspirations and make life more enjoyable for them.
