Kwara Governor Promises Pensioners Permanent Secretariat, Bus

Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has promised to provide pensioners in the state with a permanent secretariat and a bus, while pledging to resolve concerns over rent payments for their current office accommodation.

The governor gave the assurances on Tuesday in Ilorin during a meeting with leaders of the Kwara State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), according to a statement issued on Wednesday by his Deputy Chief Press Secretary, Mashood Agboola.

AbdulRazaq explained that the pensioners’ existing office was secured through a Certificate of Temporary Occupancy (CTO), which did not grant them permanent ownership or allocation of the property.

He said he would work with the Head of Service to identify a permanent location for the union’s secretariat and address the rent issue. The governor also promised that the request for a bus would be resolved.

“I’ll work with the Head of Service to make sure we find you a permanent place and we’ll sort out the issue of the rents you are currently paying. On the issue of the bus, we’ll sort that one out,” AbdulRazaq said.

The state Commissioner for Finance, Hauwa Nuru, said the government was up to date with pension payments and continued to make provisions for gratuities. She attributed the non-payment of pensions to some retirees between 2015 and 2018 to their failure to participate in the required verification exercise.

Nuru clarified that retirees who had not received their pensions for the period in question were affected because they did not attend the verification exercise.

Meanwhile, the NUP chairman, Mahmud Saidu, commended the governor for what he described as improvements in pension administration since the administration began in May 2019.

Saidu recalled that pensioners had experienced partial salary payments and pension arrears before the current government took office. He said the administration subsequently paid outstanding salary deductions valued at more than ₦4 billion and that workers had since been receiving their salaries on or before the 25th of each month.

He also told the governor that pensioners were no longer owed outstanding payments, praising the administration’s handling of their concerns.