Kaduna govt spends N19.9bn on pension, gratuity, death benefits

The Kaduna Government, within the first year under the administration of Governor Uba Sani, spent N19.9 billion on pensions, gratuities, and death benefits for its civil servants, according to the State Pension Bureau.

Executive Secretary of the Kaduna Pension Bureau, Professor Salamatu Idris Isah, said on Thursday at a one-day sensitisation on the Data Recapture Exercise for Kaduna State Public Servants under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) that the Government has continued to fulfil its obligation to pensioners.

The sensitisation, organised by the Kaduna State Pension Bureau in collaboration with the Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) operating in the state, had in attendance representatives of civil servants from all the MDAs in the state.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the programme, where the PFAs and officials of the Pension Bureau made presentations on the importance of accurate data to seamless pension payments, Professor Isah urged the civil servants to perfect their records to avoid challenges after retirement.

She said, though the state was still facing the challenge of inherited pension liabilities, the state had between May 2023 and May 2024 expended N13 billion on the state monthly pension scheme and local government pension.

Isah also said a total sum of N6.9 billion has been expended on gratuity payments within the same period.

According to her, “the essence of the programme is to ensure that all Kaduna Civil Servants are well documented by the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) because that is the only way to ensure a seamless receipt of their retirement benefits.

“We want to from now prevent the challenges of errors in names, BVN not tallying with name, or National Identity Number (NIN) not captured.

“The reason we had to do this data recapturing is that a good number of the civil servants were captured when there was no BVN or NIN. We also got to know that the PFAs have not been able to do data capturing properly for all the public servants of Kaduna State. Even though they have registered with the PFAs, the PFAs getting detailed information about their clients when they are retiring is significant.

“So, with this sensitization, civil servants who have not done proper registration with their PFAs will now know what to do. From the presentations, the civil servants have been told what they need to do.”

While speaking of the State’s pension expenses, the Executive Secretary said, “From May 2023 to May 2024, the current government has expended N13 billion. In the state monthly pension scheme, we have expended seven billion Naira, while local government has expended five billion Naira, making the N13 billion.

“In the area of gratuity payments, we have expended N6.9 billion. So, that is quite a lot within one year. And we have paid over 2,000 people in terms of gratuity and death benefits in the new and old schemes.

“She, however, noted that the only challenge is the huge liabilities the state has to settle. Though the liabilities have reduced drastically, it is still something that we need to put more effort into, especially since we have disengaged teachers that have not received their gratuities and death benefits,” she said.