The Katsina State Government has said it is putting finishing touches that would see retired workers get their gratuities in arrears to the tune of over N20 billion.

The state added that it had put modalities in place that would ensure retiring civil servants get their gratuities within the same month they retire.

Chairman of the State and Local Government Pension and Gratuity Committee, Dr Farouk Aminu, made this known on Friday during the presentation to newsmen of the state’s newly enacted 2025 Pension Reform Law.

Aminu said the payment of gratuity in arrears is part of the government’s effort to restore confidence in the state’s pension administration.

He said verification of liabilities accumulated between September 2023 and October 2025 was almost complete, and that the state governor, Dr Dikko Radda, had already pledged to release the funds immediately the exercise is concluded.

He recalled that the government had earlier paid ₦23 billion to clear arrears from the fourth quarter of 2019 to August 2023, a payment he described as a turning point in the ongoing sanitisation of the pension system.

He said the fresh commitment to offset an additional ₦20 billion reinforces the government’s determination to dismantle the backlog that has long burdened retirees and distorted the financial stability of pension management in the state.

Aminu said the broader goal is not only to clear outstanding liabilities but also to transform the entire retirement architecture so that every worker who leaves service receives their gratuity in the same month of retirement.

On the newly introduced 2025 Pension Reform Law, Aminu said the law creates a dual-structure contributory pension model designed to ensure sustainable, well-funded, and timely payment of retirement and death benefits for employees of both the state and local governments.

He said that under the new law, two systems would operate side by side, namely, a Contributory Defined Benefits Scheme (CDBS) and a Pure Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

He said that existing pensioners and workers with five years or less before retirement will remain under the old defined benefits plan to protect their accumulated entitlements, while workers with more than five years remaining will transition into the contributory scheme.

He said under the CDBS, both government and employees will contribute to a pooled fund managed by licensed Pension Fund Administrators, ensuring that retirement and death benefits are paid directly from professionally managed assets rather than from unpredictable government releases.

He added that for employees placed under the CPS, monthly contributions will flow into individual Retirement Savings Accounts, as practiced in the federal system, though without the complication of accrued rights since only workers with minimal liabilities are being migrated into the system.

He said the reform mandates a 20 percent combined monthly pension contribution, split between government and employees, which he said was crafted to guarantee a stable funding base for the next three decades.