Gombe state governor Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has said his administration had spent about N1.6 billion on payment of gratuities in the state.
Yahaya stated this in Gombe on Friday during a statewide broadcast to mark his one year in office.
He said despite limited resources inherited from the previous administration, the welfare of both serving and retired civil servants were paramount in view of their contribution to the development of the state.
He said the present administration have settled outstanding gratuities to the tune of N1.6 billion for 2015 retirees.
“In the same vein, consideration is being given to serving civil servants based on a defined arrangement.
“It is our hope that other welfare package for existing civil servants like housing and transportation will be considered when the economic situation improves,” he said.
The governor also said in the education sector, at least 300,000 out-of-school children were taken back to school through the Better Education and Service Delivery for All (BESDA) programme.
He said the state government had also paid over N1.5 billion as counterpart funds in respect of developmental programmes in the areas of health, education, agriculture, and environment.
In the education sector, Yahaya said within the period under review, 234 classrooms were constructed across 80 schools and 190 classrooms were renovated in 47 schools.
He said this was in addition to rehabilitating four legacy Secondary Schools namely GSSS, Gombe, Kaltungo, GSS, Dukku and GGSS, Kuri, to restore their lost glory.
