Governor Lawal settles ₦9.3 billion gratuities in Zamfara

Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, has settled ₦9,357,743,281.35 as payment for gratuities owed to Zamfara workers since 2011.

The Governor approved the commencement of the payment of the backlog of gratuities earlier in February.

In a statement in Gusau on Saturday, the Governor’s spokesperson, Sulaiman Bala Idris, revealed that the government had paid retired state workers a total of ₦4,860,613,699.22 in nine batches.

The statement added that another sum of ₦4,497,129,582.13 has been settled for local government workers.

The statement read, “in his commitment to reform the Zamfara State Civil Service, in February, Governor Lawal established a committee to verify and authenticate the state pensioners who had not been paid gratuities since 2011.

“So far, 2,666 out of the 3,880 verified pensioners have been paid their total gratuity entitlements, amounting to ₦4,860,613,699.22, out of the total amount owed by previous administrations.

“These payments have been made to beneficiaries who retired between 2015 and 2024.

“On the other hand, 3,840 out of 4804 verified retired local government and primary school teachers have so far been paid in nine batches to the tune of ₦4,497,129,582.13.

“The local government gratuity outstanding total payable arrears was ₦5,688,230,607.20, of which ₦4,497,129,582.13 has been paid to date.

“The beneficiaries of the payments are those who retired between 2011 and 2021.

“In summary, therefore, the state has so far paid a combined total of ₦9,357,743,281.35 as gratuity out of the cumulative sum of ₦13,784,179,513.80 owed by the state to a total number of 6,506 verified retired beneficiaries out of the 8,684 the total verified retired beneficiaries.

“The beneficiaries of the payments are those who retired between 2011 and 2024.”