Adamawa and non-payment of gratuity

The non-payment of gratuity of retiring civil servants, who have put in 35 years in Adamawa state, is alarming. It is worrisome that the gratuity of retired civil servants is no longer paid in Adamawa state and every now and then people are still retiring from the service. It is now more than ten years that gratuity was not paid thereby accumulating the bill, which is now in the region of N20b.
Since the inception of the present political dispensation, it is only during former Governor Boni Haruna administration that gratuity was paid to retiring civil servants regularly. But from the reign of former Governor Murtala Nyako up to the present administration of Governor Mohammed Bindow Umaru Jibrilla, not a dime has been given to the pension board to pay gratuity.
The gratuity bill is accumulating and if care is not taken can led to a situation in no distant future, that things would stop and whatever is accruing to the state would be used in offsetting the gratuities of retirees.
In fact, it is a disgrace in Adamawa state that gratuity is not be paid to those who spend the greater part of their lives for the service of the state and allowing the retirees to wallow in object poverty and misery due to non-payment of their gratuities to start life afresh.
It is imperative for the present administration to start paying the accumulated gratuity. This can be done by giving the pension boarding N500m every month to clear the backlog. If nothing is done to offset the gratuities it would lead to catastrophe for the state or successive government.
Bailout was given to the states on more than three occasions, but in Adamawa state nothing was done to offset gratuity.
It is sad that one would spend his entire life in public service with a clear hope that at the end, he would get all his entitlements so as to open another vista of life, but only to end up not getting his or her entitlements.
The government needs to be proactive in seeing that retirees are paid their entitlements like their gratuities and monthly pension on time.
The lack of paying gratuity in Adamawa state is making those still in service to have a rethink in public service as things are daily going down and with no hope. This clarion call would enable the civil servants still in service to appreciate the fact that whenever they retire, their entitlements would be promptly paid.

Usman Santuraki,
2 Santuraki Close,
Jambutu, Jimeta, Yola

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