Gov. Al-makura increases minimum pension by 100%

The Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Al-makura, has approved increase in minimum pension for the state retirees from N5,000 to N10,000, Mr Abdullahi Sani-Oseze, Director-General, Nasarawa State Pension Bureau has disclosed.

Sani-Oseze made the disclosure in an interview in Lafia.

Sani-Oseze said the state government made the adjustment to make life more meaningful for the pensioners.

“I have submitted a memo to this effect to the governor and he has graciously approved it.

“We are just waiting for release of funds to enable us implement the new increase,” he said.

He said the governor had also given the bureau the go ahead to computerise the records of pensioners under its payroll for prompt payment of pension and gratuities and to detect ghost pensioners.

The director-general said that the planned computerisation, when operational, would also go a long way in preventing alteration of vital documents.

Sani-Oseze attributed improper record keeping of pensioners to analogue nature of keeping records in the state.

“The system whereby records of retirees are kept anyhow; in piles of files in offices, in which case they could be eaten by rodents cannot continue in my tenure.

“The records of retirees from the state government and local government areas will be fully automated.

The director-general assured the pensioners that the bureau would continue to do everything possible to ensure that they received their pension and gratuity as and at when due.