Osun State Governor call on the FG to assist state governments across the country in raising bonds to pay the gratuities of state pensioners

    Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has called on the Federal Government to assist state governments across the country in raising bonds to pay the gratuities of state pensioners who voluntarily retire from the service to avoid the Contributory Pension Scheme.

   Aregbesola made the call while playing host to the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, Sharon Ikeazor who paid him a courtesy visit at the state secretariat.
  According to him, the state government is not insensitive to the plight of pensioners in the state, explaining that the government is incapacitated to pay the pensioners gratuity which is about N5bn.
  He explained that the mass retirement of workers from the state civil service at the end of 2012 because they did not want to join the Contributory Pension Scheme placed a gratuity burden of about N5bn on the state.
  Aregbesola noted that the state has been struggling and managing to pay salaries and pension because of the continuous decline of the nation’s economy as a result of the instability in the crude oil market.