Aiyedatiwa disburses N3.82b gratuities for 985 retirees

• Says clearing backlog of pension debts a moral obligation
• CHSR seeks probe of alleged tear-gassing of pensioners

Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, yesterday, flagged off the payment of N3.82 billion in gratuities to 985 retirees of the state public service, stressing his administration’s effort to clear inherited pension liabilities.

The beneficiaries comprise 509 retirees from the 2020 batch and 476 outstanding beneficiaries from the 2015–2019 batches.

Aiyedatiwa, while speaking at the Cocoa Conference Hall, Governor’s Office, Alagbaka, Akure, described the exercise as “a debt of honour being discharged” to those who devoted their productive years to the service of the state.

MEANWHILE, despite the police denial of alleged tear-gassing of protesting members of the NUP in Lagos, the Centre for Human and Socio-Economic Rights (CHSR) has called on the Lagos State Government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident and make the outcome public.

President of CHSR, Alex Omotehinse, who appealed yesterday at a media briefing in Lagos, said if the action was carried out by the police or another security agency without the direct involvement of the state government, the appropriate authorities must be held accountable.

According to the governor, his administration inherited billions of naira in outstanding gratuity obligations covering the period from 2015 to date.

Aiyedatiwa said his administration had successfully defrayed outstanding gratuities from 2015 to 2019, describing the exercise as “another giant step forward.”

The governor emphasised that the exercise was not only a financial intervention but also a demonstration of his administration’s appreciation of those who had devoted their productive years to the service of the state.

Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary, Ondo State Pension Transition Office, Dr Peter Akingbade, disclosed that retirees from the 2015 Batch C, 2016 Batch C, 2017 Batch C, 2018 Batch B, 2019 Batch B, and 2020 Batch A were being paid and receiving bank alerts.

Akingbade said the beneficiaries would receive their full gratuity entitlements rather than partial payments, describing the development as a milestone that would bring relief, dignity, and renewed hope to retirees.

However, the state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Johnson Osunyemi, hailed the governor, stating that the state is among the leading states in the country in clearing the backlog of gratuities owed to retired workers.