Cross River State Government has uncovered a total of 2,000 ghost pensioners on its payroll as at July 26, 2024.
The Government House, stated that presence of the ghost pensioners were responsible for the delay in the payment of inherited backlogs of gratuities spanning 2014 to 2024. The State Government, however, did not disclose the identities of the pension thieves.
Recall that the State Governor, Bassey Out, had months ago set up a committee to review the retired civil and public servants payroll. This was to ensure it is free of pension thieves.
The development was made public by the Chief Press Secretary, CPS, to the Governor, Nsa Gill, on Friday.
Gill said, “So far, the audit and verification exercise has uncovered over 2,000 (two thousand) ghost pensioners. These are people who had consequently been expunged from both the State and Local government pensions payrolls.”
The CPS, therefore, stated that with the near completion of the exercise to authenticate genuine pensioners, payment of gratuities will commence in August, 2024.
“The Committee led by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) has one week from the date of their first meeting to submit its report to the government,” he said.
Gill added that Governor Bassey Edet Otu “has approved the sum of N10 billion only to address the outstanding payment of gratuity for retired civil and public servants in the state.”
“The Governor has equally approved the constitution of a committee of the Executives of State and Local Government Pension Unions under the headship of the Secretary to the State Government.
“The committee is expected to meet with the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) on Monday, July 29, 2024 . This is with a view to working out modalities for the payment of gratuities to retired civil and public officers in Cross River State.
“It will be recalled that the present administration inherited a backlog of unpaid gratuities of retirees dating back to 2014. A condition that elicited a promise by the present administration to commence payment since last year. But it has been delayed due to audit and verification,” the CPS said.
source: The Nation
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