The government of Ebonyi State has announced the completion of the second phase of gratuity payments for retired civil servants spanning from 1996 to 2023, amounting to over 5 billion Naira.
Approval for the sum of 1.6 billion Naira for this purpose was granted by the state governor, Francis Nwifuru.
According to a statement released by Mr. Leo Oketa, the Special Assistant on New Media to the governor, the committee responsible for the exercise finalized the payment of the outstanding gratuities on Thursday.
The beneficiaries of this payment include individuals on the spill-over list of retirees from the initial payment period (1996 to 2021) and retirees from 2022 to 2023.
The second phase, which concluded from April 30, 2024, to May 9, 2024, saw a total of 533 retirees cleared and paid, with expenditures amounting to 1.4 billion Naira.
Out of the total retirees paid during this phase, 256 were from the spill-over list and received a sum of 394.9 million Naira, while 277 retirees from the 2022 to 2023 set were paid a total gratuity of 1.030 billion Naira.
Of the approved list of 636 retirees for the second phase, 533 retirees were successfully cleared and compensated by May 9, 2024, while the remaining 103 retirees did not partake in the verification exercise for payment.
The committee handling the exercise will submit its report to the Governor for further deliberation on the next steps.
It is noteworthy that from the inception of the first phase on October 23, 2023, where 1,558 retirees were paid a total of 3.6 billion Naira, the Ebonyi State Government has settled the pension arrears of 2,091 retirees with a cumulative amount of 5,034,417,123.99 Naira since assuming office.