Kaduna State’s retired Heads of Service (HoS) and Permanent Secretaries (PermSecs) have decried unfulfilled promises by Governor Uba Sani to pay their outstanding pension arrears, estimated at nearly N1 billion.
The governor had earlier allegedly appealed to the retirees to withdraw the court case it instituted against the state government over non-payment of their pensions arrears under the immediate past administration of Governor Nasir El-Rufai, in line with the court order.
In a statement made available to our correspondent, the retirees lamented that three years after Sani’s appeal, their situations remained unresolved, as the governor’s promises were yet to be fulfilled.
“Three years after Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State appealed to retired permanent secretaries to withdraw the court case over their pensions, it’s established that their situations remain unresolved with promises made by the governor yet to be fulfilled,” it stated.
According to the statement, “Counsel to the retired Head of Service and Permanent Secretaries, Tanimu Abdullahi’s dispute dated back to March 2020, when the administration of former Governor Nasir el-Rufai reduced the pensions of the affected retirees by 80 per cent, which was contrary to Section 210 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended.”
“Dissatisfied with the development, the retired officials approached the National Industrial Court (NIC), which in July 2021 ordered the Kaduna State Government to restore their full pensions and pay outstanding arrears estimated at nearly N1 billion within 30 days.
“However, the former governor, el-Rufai, in his usual characteristics, failed to comply with the court ruling, prompting them to return to court where they secured a garnishee order on three government bank accounts to enforce the judgement,” it stated.
The statement explained that “It’s understood that they were at the verge of enforcing the garnishee order when Governor Uba Sani, shortly after assuming office, invited them to a meeting in October 2023 and urged them to withdraw the case in favour of an out-of-court settlement, which the retirees firmly believed that as a democrat who has a record of respect for court judgements, he withdrew the case accordingly.”
It added that at the meeting, the governor, who reportedly promised to include their entitlements in the 2024 budget, established a committee to advise the government on the matter and to implement its recommendations.
“The committee, chaired by the then attorney general and commissioner for justice, Sule Shuaibu (SAN), was subsequently constituted. Although provisions for retirees were said to be included in the 2024 and subsequent budgets, no payments have been made to them.
“Furthermore, at that meeting, the governor had explained that the state was facing financial constraints but gave approval to increase what they were receiving under the previous administration by 200 per cent, which translates to 60% of their entitlements, leaving an outstanding balance of 40% of their approved normal entitlements up to date,” it stressed.
“Despite this, the agreement has not been honoured, leaving their arrears to continue accumulating while their living conditions worsen.
“The very unfortunate and pathetic situation has taken a great toll on the affected retirees, resulting in the death of 19 out of 80 of them, with many of the deaths linked to stress-related health complications and worsened economic conditions.
“Their present predicaments have been heightened by the release of N4.2 billion recently for the payment of pension benefits to some retirees, in which they were not among the beneficiaries, which could likely be an oversight by His Excellency and needs to be looked into accordingly.
“This is a clarion call by some good-spirited people to Governor Uba Sani to be a man of his word and fulfil his promises and implement the court judgement as a listening governor with democratic credentials,” the statement that could not be signed for fear of victimisation added.
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