The 33 Local Government Areas in Oyo State will begin the payment of arrears of entitlements to retirees in the state immediately.
The pensioners had on Monday issued a 14-day ultimatum to the state government to address unpaid entitlements of retired primary school teachers and retired local government workers in the state.
The union said the failure of the government to do so would result in a protest by the affected retirees on October 24, 2016.
While calling on the government to implement the payment of six per cent and 15 per cent pension increases to retired LG staff in the state, the pensioners accused the authorities at the Ministry of Local Government of circumventing Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s instruction, leading to 35 months of unpaid pension arrears and gratuities worth N22bn.
The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Mr. Bimbo Kolade, said the 14-day ultimatum given by the pensioners was not necessary because the state government had, on Friday, approved the release of N880m for the payment of pensions of retired council workers across the state.
Also at an emergency meeting called by the 33 councils in the state on Tuesday, a representative of all the chairmen of the local government areas, Mr. Wasiu Olatunbosun, said the delay in the payment of the money was due to the verification of pensioners being conducted to weed out ‘ghost’ pensioners in the state.
He stated that the exercise had identified 400 ‘ghost’ pensioners, adding that the state governor had disbursed N880m to the state pension board for payment to the respective pensioner’s accounts.
He added, “On Friday, three months allocations were released by Governor Ajimobi to all the councils in the state. Out of the allocations, the sum of N880m was set aside to be sent to the state pension board. In the next 48 hours, the money would be released to the appropriate quarters for onward distribution to the owners (pensioners). The step was taken on Friday by Governor Ajimobi.”