Pensioners laud Makinde over payment of N3.2 billion gratuities

The Oyo State House of Assembly yesterday urged Governor Seyi Makinde to urgently constitute the Amotekun Corps, the state security agency network, to stem insecurity in the state.

The House emphasised that the call became imperative to check the nefarious activities of criminal herdsmen who recently invaded some parts of the state.

The lawmakers, who condemned the killings of three persons in Akinyele Local Council and destruction of farms in Ogbomoso area by some armed bandits suspected to be herdsmen, urged the governor to urgently act on the call. The Speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin, stressed that the sooner Amotekun Corps was constituted, the better for the state in terms of security.

Meanwhile, pensioners in the state have lauded the governor for the payment of gratuities to retirees in the state. The pensioners, under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Oyo State Council, chided the non-payment of gratuities and pensions by the past government accumulating to N26 billion.

Its Secretary, Olusegun Abatan, who spoke during the symbolic presentation of cheques for the payment of gratuities to the retirees at the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, said the payment had put a lie on those who said Makinde would not perform because he had not held public office before he became governor.

Abatan said the ability of the Makinde-led government to pay N3.2 billion gratuity to retired primary school teachers and local council pensioners and another N1 billion to retirees in MDAs was due to the administration’s consistency in paying N180 million as gratuities monthly.

Makinde, who said his administration was committed to improving the lots of pensioners and other people living in the state, said the past administration left the debt backlog of N26 billion of gratuities. He said he would ensure the payment of the backlog gratuities, saying: “We will take full responsibility for what they ought to have done.”