Oyo State government has approved N880 million for the payment of primary schools and local government pensioners in the state.
The Caretaker Chairman of Ibadan Northwest Local Government Area, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun, on Wednesday, October 13, stated.
The council chief urged local chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) to show understanding and not confrontational.
Olatunbosun spoke against the backdrop of the 14-day ultimatum served by NUP state chapter on the Ministry of Local Government to pay outstanding pension arrears.
He attributed the irregularity in the payment of pension arrears to the national pension scam and strain on the resources at government disposal.
According to him, about 400 ghost pensioners have been identified from the ongoing verification of workers.
He said: “We understand the plight of retired primary school teachers and local government pensioners and we appeal to the pensioners not to be confrontational with the state government. We implore them to be on the same page with the state government. We cannot be insensitive to the plight of the pensioners.
“There was delay in allocation for two months because we could not hold JAAC meeting during the last strike. We had our last meeting on Friday where N880 million was released for primary schools and local government pensioners. They would get their monies before the end of work tomorrow.
“We must also understand that the state allocation has also dropped from about N5 billion now receives about N2.2 billion and we have a wage bill of N5.2 billion. We appeal to the pensioners to be understanding.
He added that the government is also trying to verify the number of retirees since 2008 and that verification has enabled the government to discover 400 ghost pensioners.
