The owed gratuities include death, retirement and contract gratuities.
The state Glgovernor, Dauda Lawal, had earlier set up a committee to authenticate the data of retired civil servants to pay off the gratuity debt accumulated from 2011 to date.
The governor’s spokesperson, Sulaiman Idris, in a statement on Saturday, noted that verified retirees owed gratuities since 2011 had started receiving their payments since last Thursday.
The statement read, “The state government has taken a significant step towards addressing the outstanding debt of gratuity owed retirees which comprises death gratuities, retirement gratuities and contract gratuities.
“Governor Dauda Lawal set up a committee to validate and authenticate retiree data to settle the debt of gratuities that has accumulated since 2011.
“After validating the data of retired civil servants, the government discovered that the total amount owed from state and local governments is N13.4 billion.”
Idris noted that “the committee has already gone far with the authentication of data submitted by the local government and state pension commission and physical verification of beneficiaries.
“Retired state and local government employees who were verified have begun receiving their gratuity payments since Thursday.
“The government will ensure that all retirees are authenticated and paid their gratuities without any difficulties.
“The Zamfara State Government is fulfilling its promise to serve the people of the state by rescuing and rebuilding the state for the better.”
In late June 2023, pensioners in the state cried out over non-payment of their pensions for the last four months.
Many pensioners who spoke to PUNCH Online said they were going through a tough time as they were finding it difficult to feed their families.
