Government pays pensioners N2.7bn, says official

The Ogun Bureau of Local Government Pensions says it has paid about N2.7 billion as pensions from January to September, an official said on Thursday.

Mr Ayotunde Kolawole, the Permanent Secretary in the Bureau, disclosed this in Abeokuta during an oversight visit to the bureau by members of Ogun House of Assembly Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

He said the affected pensioners were retired council workers, teaching and non-teaching staff in primary schools.

He said that the bureau had also paid N43.3 million as gratuities to the same category of pensioners during the period.

Kolawole, however, said the amount would be enhanced if the state government paid its contributions to the Local Government Staff Pension Fund.

He said the bureau was saddled with the management of the old pay-as-you-go and the new Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for all the affected pensioners.

Kolawole disclosed that the total number of pensioners being managed by the agency was 8,372 as at September.

Responding, Mr Odofin Sonuga, the committee chairman, urged the bureau to organise seminars for stakeholders regularly in order to fine-tune the pension scheme.

He also advised the bureau to use the system adopted by other states that had been worked well to improve on the state’s local government pensions scheme.

Sonuga urged the bureau to always collaborate with the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the Local Government Service Commission and the House of Assembly to ensure the growth of the scheme.