GRATUITY PAYMENTS: Imo State Government to set aside N100m monthly for payments.
For those of us whose parents are still owed their pensions, the Imo Government has announced that they would set aside N100 million and N50 million monthly for the payment of gratuities to state government pensioners and local government council pensioners respectively.
It said in a communique on Monday in Owerri that the payment was in addition to the release of all statutory deductions due to the Local Government Pension Board and Local Government Service Commission.
The communiqué was issued by the reconciliation committee the government set up to look into the trade dispute between it and the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), trade union side.
Leadership Newspapers also reports the following:
According to the communiqué, the government has paid the backlog of pension arrears, while payment of gratuities, for some years, is still outstanding.
The communiqué was signed by Mr Soronnadi Njoku, the Imo Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Evans Uzokwe, Imo Head of Service and Mr Peter Ohagwa, Special Assistant on Peace and Conflict Resolution, for the government.
Trade union side was signed by Okwarra Coleman, State Chairman JPSNC; Mr R.A Anyadike, State Chairman, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), and Mr Obinna Aharanwa, State Chairman, Trade Union Congress (TUC), among others.
On the issue of commercialisation of ministries department and agencies (MDGs,) the committee explained that labour was not opposed to the policy, but that government was yet to issue guidelines on its operation.
The committee said that it would be unrealistic to expect every ministry, department and agencies to generate fund for its own salaries.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gov. Rochas Okorocha, early in the month while delivering his State of Imo address directed the commercialisation of all MDAs in the state.
He said the MDAs should no longer rely on the government coffers for the running of its affairs, as the government had other necessities to cater for financially.
The committee, therefore, agreed that the policy of commercialisation should go on but should not be tied to the payment of workers’ salaries.
It urged government to promptly provide the guidelines and necessary framework for the implementation of the policy.
The committee also noted that the government did not place any embargo on promotion and agreed that the process of promotion in the state public service should commence immediately.
NAN reports that the state government set up the committee based on contentious issues raised by the organised labour against the government. (NAN)
This is good news for real! Ka chineke mezie okwu.