Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State announced that his administration has paid N7,345,674,918.42 to clear gratuities owed to retired local government and state civil servants.
In January, the state government established a committee to verify unpaid gratuities for state workers who retired between 2015 and 2024, and for local government pensioners who retired between 2012 and 2019.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the governor’s media aide, Sulaiman Idris, disclosed that the amount was paid in seven batches. The statement added that the process of settling the owed gratuities is progressing smoothly and achieving significant success.
“The Zamfara State Government, under Governor Dauda Lawal, is committed to clearing the backlog of over N13 billion in gratuities owed to retired local government and state civil servants,” Idris said.
He expressed disappointment that previous administrations failed to pay retirement benefits, causing hardship for workers. Governor Lawal promptly addressed this issue by settling the backlog.
“The first six batches covered 1,926 out of the 3,880 verified state pensioners, who were paid a total of N3,345,642,807.22 out of the N8,095,948,906.63 owed. The seventh batch, which included 215 verified state pensioners, received N499,886,578.77 in gratuity arrears.
“Additionally, 3,513 retired local government and primary school teachers have been paid in seven batches, totaling N3,500,145,532.43.
“This effort will continue as part of the state government’s commitment to revamp the Zamfara civil service for improved efficiency and effectiveness,” Idris added.
