Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has said that his administration is committed to improving the welfare of pensioners in the state and would soon come up with creative ways to clear backlog of unpaid gratuities.
Fayemi said this during a meeting with executive members of state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), at the weekend.
The pensioners led by their state chairman, Ayo Kumapayi, paid Fayemi a visit to congratulate him on the recent Court of Appeal victory and to thank him for the regular monthly payment of their pensions since October 2018.
Fayemi added that his administration had put a temporary measure on ground through 1,000 percent increase in the fund meant for gratuity payment monthly, from N10 million to N100 million monthly.
This, he said, was to draft in more pensioners in the process.
“We are looking at other creative ways. What we are doing right now is mainly a stop gap measure to ensure that the number of people who can access gratuity increases because how many retirees can 10 million naira cater for even if it is N2 million gratuity that everyone is entitled to, then barely four people would benefit,” he said.
The governor also said his administration was looking into establishing recreational facilities for the elderly where the government would take responsibility for their health through health insurance scheme that is expected to commence soon.
