Kaduna Govt Releases N920m For Pensioners

Kaduna State Government has released N920 million for the settlement of outstanding pension liabilities which included death benefits and gratuity.

A statement issued from Sir Kashim Ibrahim House stated that the payment schedule which was dated March 9, 2023, comprises state and local government pensioners in the old Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).

The statement further disclosed that   state pensioners will get N400 million while local government beneficiaries will receive N520 million.

It will be recalled that last November, Governor Nasir  El-Rufai  approved   N900 million  for the payment of accrued rights  for retirees and families of deceased beneficiaries  under the new  Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The executive secretary of Kaduna State Pension Bureau, Prof Salamatu Isah, had  said the amount  covered  batch 54 for the state and local governments retirees and families of the  deceased.

Isah explained that payment of retirees under the contributory pension scheme is being done  by the Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs), adding that the government will only pay the past savings.

She said such savings, which is known as accrued rights,  is the retirees’  entitlements  prior to the commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme  in 2017,  and they are  paid to  PFAs instead of individual beneficiaries.

Giving a breakdown of the payment, the Executive Secretary  had said that N600,000,000 has been allocated to the state retirees and deceased families, while N300,000,000 was allocated to local governments retirees and  families of the  deceased .