985 retirees to get N4bn as gratuities in Ondo State

Nine hundred and eighty-five retirees, covering public servants who left the service of the Ondo State Government between 2015 and 2020, are to get their gratuities of almost four billion naira.

Flagging off the payment exercise in Akure, the Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, described the gesture as “a debt of honour being discharged” to those who devoted their productive years to the service of Ondo State.

The beneficiaries comprised 509 retirees from the 2020 batch and 476 from the 2015–2019 batches, drawn from the mainstream civil service, secondary school teaching and non-teaching staff, and parastatals across the state.

The governor said his administration confronted the burden of the exercise with courage and responsibility, having

inherited billions of naira in outstanding gratuity obligations covering the period from 2015 to date.

“When our Administration came to the saddle, we inherited billions of Naira in outstanding gratuity obligations covering the period from 2015 to date. We confronted it with courage, responsibility and a clear understanding that governance is not only about initiating new projects; it is equally about confronting inherited challenges and resolving them,” he said.

Governor Aiyedatiwa said his administration had successfully defrayed outstanding gratuities for 2015 to 2019, describing Wednesday’s exercise as a gesture to remember the services of retirees and respect their sacrifice by paying their entitlement.

In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Ondo State Pension Transition Office, Dr Peter Akingbade, disclosed that retirees from the 2015 Batch C, 2016 Batch C, 2017 Batch C, 2018 Batch B, 2019 Batch B and 2020 Batch A were being paid and were already receiving bank alerts.

Akingbade said the beneficiaries would receive their full gratuity entitlements rather than partial payments, describing the development as a milestone that would bring relief, dignity and renewed hope to retirees.

Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mrs Nike Ogunbodede appreciated the governor for the gesture, describing it as a remarkable development that had never been witnessed in the state.

In his vote of thanks, the state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Comrade Johnson Osunyemi, appreciated the governor, saying Ondo State is among the leading states in the country in clearing the backlog of gratuities owed to retired workers.