Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola on Tuesday said his administration would not allow retirees of the state government to suffer over their pension.
The governor spoke at the presentation of retirement bond certificates worth N3.58bn to 604 retirees in Lagos.
He said the certificates represented accrued pension rights made up of gratuity and pension entitlements of the workers before April 1, 2007, when the contributory pension scheme started in the state.
The governor said, “As of today, a total of N3.6bn has already been transferred into the Retirement Savings Accounts of the 604 retirees in this 7th batch.
“Today’s Bond presentation has thus brought the total accrued pension rights already paid into the RSA of 2,539 retirees in Lagos State to N13.9bn. This is made up of gratuity and pension benefits for entitlements under the old scheme.
“At the fifth bond certificate presentation in March this year, I reiterated my call that the contributory pension scheme should be one of the easiest quick wins for the states of the old Western Region to achieve, by collaborating for better pension administration regimes and driving public service productivity under the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria.
“This call becomes more imperative in the light of the recent disclosure that the country’s pension fund will increase from its present N2.9trn to N3trn by the end of 2012.
“However, we will continue to ensure that workers are comfortable at retirement through regular payment of monthly contributions into their retirement savings accounts.”
The Director-General of the Lagos State Pension Commission, Mr Rotimi Hussain, said the government would not relent in ensuring that the welfare of the retirees were taken care of.