The Quarterly Inter-Ministerial Press Briefing held by Kwara State government was attended by members of the state executive council and heads of agencies on Tuesday.
It served as a platform for them to provide updates on their activities.
Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Hauwa Nuru submitted during the programme that active and retired public sector workers in the state are being paid their salary and pension as and when due precisely before 25th of every month while there has been nothing like salary or pension arrears in the state.
The Finance Commissioner also clarified and asserted that no active or retired public sector worker in the state is owed salary or pension.
Dr. Hauwa Nuru explained that anyone who has not gotten his or her salary or pension has either not enrolled in the mandatory Kwara State Residents Registration Agency (KWSRRA) database or found to have submitted invalid details. She added that a verification exercise was carried out by the Abdulrazaq administration with a view to removing discrepancies, eliminating ‘ghost workers’ and ensuring accurate and timely remuneration while the ‘inherited’ N3.3 billion owed retired local government workers in the state had since gotten ‘cleared’ by the current administration in the state.
The Finance Commissioner however acknowledged the existence of outstanding gratuities which, she noted, were inherited from previous administrations and had gotten piled up before the Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq administration came into being in 2019.
While outstanding gratuities for the retired local government workers inherited in 2019 was over N19 billion, the Abdulrazaq administration, she noted, has already committed N12 billion to the payment of the outstanding gratuities which were last paid in 2009.
She also disclosed the N2.5 billion has already been earmarked for the payment of gratuities to those who retired between 2011 and 2013.
