Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has approved the release of an additional ₦1 billion to sustain the payment of outstanding gratuity arrears owed to local government employees and primary school teachers who retired in 2012.
The Chairman of the Edo State Local Government Service Commission, Kabiru Adjoto, made the announcement on Friday during a joint consultative meeting in Benin City. The meeting was attended by leadership representatives from the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), the Local Government Pensioners Association (LOGPENAS), the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), and officials from the Local Government Pension Bureau.
Speaking on the disbursement, Adjoto highlighted that the fund release underscores the state government's dedication to prioritizing worker welfare and addressing long-standing financial commitments to senior citizens who served the state. He noted that following the initial rollout of gratuity payments for the 2012 retiree cohort earlier in the year, the governor approved this second tranche to ensure continuity in clearing the backlog.
According to Adjoto, the additional intervention will enable the Local Government Pension Bureau to settle the remaining verified claims for the 2012 batch before extending payments to subsequent sets. He stated that the phased intervention model aims to systematically eliminate accumulated liabilities, asserting that if past administrations had adopted a similar structured installment approach, the state's gratuity backlog would have been cleared earlier.
The commission chairman reassured retirees with pending entitlements that the state government remains committed to maintaining regular disbursements, subject to revenue availability, until the backlog is significantly reduced.
In their joint response, union representatives—including NUP spokesperson Comrade Claudette Ehannire, LOGPENAS representative Jude Ahabue, and NULGE Secretary—commended the administration for maintaining steady disbursements. They appealed to the state government to consider increasing allocation amounts in subsequent phases to accelerate the final settlement of all outstanding pension liabilities.
