[Mhiz Rebecca]

The 33 Local Government Areas in Oyo State will
begin the payment of arrears of entitlements to
retirees in the state immediately.
The pensioners had on Monday issued a 14-day
ultimatum to the state government to address
unpaid entitlements of retired primary school
teachers and retired local government workers in
the state.
The union said the failure of the government to do
so would result in a protest by the affected retirees
on October 24, 2016.
While calling on the government to implement the
payment of six per cent and 15 per cent pension
increases to retired LG staff in the state, the
pensioners accused the authorities at the Ministry
of Local Government of circumventing Governor
Abiola Ajimobi’s instruction, leading to 35 months
of unpaid pension arrears and gratuities worth
N22bn.
The Commissioner for Local Government and
Chieftaincy Matters, Mr. Bimbo Kolade, said the 14-
day ultimatum given by the pensioners was not
necessary because the state government had, on
Friday, approved the release of N880m for the
payment of pensions of retired council workers
across the state.
Also at an emergency meeting called by the 33
councils in the state on Tuesday, a representative of
all the chairmen of the local government areas, Mr.
Wasiu Olatunbosun, said the delay in the payment
of the money was due to the verification of
pensioners being conducted to weed out ‘ghost’
pensioners in the state.
He stated that the exercise had identified 400
‘ghost’ pensioners, adding that the state governor
had disbursed N880m to the state pension board
for payment to the respective pensioner’s accounts.
He added, “On Friday, three months allocations
were released by Governor Ajimobi to all the
councils in the state. Out of the allocations, the sum
of N880m was set aside to be sent to the state
pension board. In the next 48 hours, the money
would be released to the appropriate quarters for
onward distribution to the owners (pensioners). The
step was taken on Friday by Governor Ajimobi.”