Bayelsa Govt Clears N12bn Gratuity For LGA Retirees

Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, has presented cheques of N12 billion as a backlog of gratuity to over 1000 retirees from the local government service across the eight local government areas of the state.

Governor Diri, who presented the cheques to the retirees on behalf of the state government recently in Yenagoa during a conference on “Promoting Local Government Workers’ Welfare: The Bayelsa Model,” said the regular payment of salaries to workers and gratuity to retirees were part of the reasons he was elected and should not be celebrated.

The governor, who was also honoured by the president of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Aliyu Kankara, with an award, revealed that he was initially accused of attempting to score cheap political points for doing the right thing in offsetting the backlog of gratuities, which dated back to 2007.

He said the challenges he met on assuming office necessitated the reforms, as several of the councils had huge financial deficits and relied on the state government for bailouts. He said his vision for government at all levels was to secure the livelihood of the people, enhance food availability and generate more revenue.

He restated his directive to council chairmen to embark on farming in areas of comparative advantage to boost food supply in the state.

He said, “The moment you retire at 60 or 65 years, you become a senior citizen, and you are entitled to your gratuity. In other climes, it is taken for granted. Therefore, we should not celebrate it.

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Initially, some people queried it when I started immediately paying gratuities. They said previous administrations did not pay.

“I reminded such critics that my father was a teacher, a headmaster. If not for the opportunity of a child like me, he would have died without his pension and gratuity.

“Having that at the back of my mind, one of the priorities I had was to ensure that the backlogs of gratuities were cleared. I recall a particular month we had a windfall in our allocation; I directed the payment of N7 billion for gratuity and pensions,” he said.

Earlier, the NULGE president, Comrade Aliyu Kankara, said Governor Diri’s achievements include transforming the local government system in the state through the introduction of fiscal policy reforms that repositioned the third tier of government for better service delivery, staff welfare, regular promotions and financial benefits.

The NULGE president said the implementation of an N80,000 minimum wage for council workers and an additional 25 and 30 per cent salary increase, as well as the government’s support to councils in the payment of primary school teachers’ salaries, were some of the heart-warming testimonies of the union members.

He described as unprecedented the governor’s timely payment of pensions and gratuities to local government retirees, saying Bayelsa was the first state in the country to pay retirement entitlements immediately after service.