Niger government has released N1 billion for the payment of gratuities for the state and local government retirees.
Director-general of State Pension Board, Alhaji Nasiru Namaska, disclosed this at the flag-off of the payment of the gratuities on Thursday in Minna.
He said that the state government had released N500 million to the State Pension Board and another N500 million to the Local Government Pension Board, for the payment of the gratuities.
Namaska said that a total of 178 retirees from the state would benefit from the N500 million disbursement.
The director-general, however, advised retirees from the local government to go to the local government pension board with the required documents in order to get paid.
“The exercise will commence today. We have addressed the retirees on the operational modalities and documentation; it will be transparent,” he said.
Namaska stated that those retirees, whose names were on the list, would be attended to during the verification.
He said that the beneficiaries should come for the exercise with their letters of first appointment, retirement letters and retirement benefit number, as means of identification.
According to him, the management of the board has agreed that those coming for the payment without the required documents will not benefit.
“They are supposed to come with documents as proof before being handed the cheque.
“We are using a compendium where retirees are grouped into batches; it will be first come, first served.
“It is not a guarantee for those whose names are on the list that they will be given cheques. Only those with documents as proof will be paid,” Namaska stated.
The director-general said that the government would continue to put measures in place to put an end to the plight of retirees in the state.
