Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State has pledged to investigate alleged illegal deductions from pensioners’ gratuities under the administration of former governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
Speaking on Saturday during the launch of the second phase of gratuity and death benefit payments, amounting to N5 billion for about 4,000 retirees, Governor Yusuf emphasized the lack of records or documents showing that the deducted funds were returned to government coffers by the previous administration.
“We are handicapped; we are constrained that we cannot trace your pension monies deducted by the previous administration in the state,” Governor Yusuf stated. “We have done all the necessary checks to trace the deducted money from your pensions but we could not trace a single kobo, hence the need to advise you to initiate the effort to recover your money.”
He advised the state branch of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) to officially file a complaint with the State Government regarding the missing funds. The Governor assured that an investigation would be conducted, and anyone found to have diverted the money would face legal action to return the funds.
Governor Yusuf highlighted that in the first phase, the state government had paid beneficiaries N6 billion, bringing the total to N11 billion. He reiterated his administration’s commitment to settling the backlog of over N40 billion in unpaid pension gratuity and death benefits, ensuring retirees and families of deceased civil servants receive their rightful entitlements.
“The monies we are paying you today are your entitlements; they are not empowerments; they are your rights,” Governor Yusuf noted.
A total of 4,000 retirees and families of deceased civil servants are set to receive their entitlements in this second phase of payments.
