Niger Pensioners Ask Gov Bago to Probe Missing N19.5 Billion

• Decry stoppage of payment of gratuities

Laleye Dipo in Minna

Pensioners in Niger State have asked Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago to institute a probe into what they described as missing N19.5bn pension fund released to the state pension board since 2024.

The N19.5bn, according to the Pensioners, is part of the N25bn released to the Pensions Board by the government also in 2024 for the payment of outstanding gratuities.

According to the alternate chairman of the Joint Action Committee of the Niger State Union of Pensioners, Mr. Stephen Daniel Zitta, who spoke with newsmen in Minna, only N6.5bn of the N25bn was disbursed in the payment of outstanding pensions and gratuities

The payment after verification, according to Mr. Daniel Zitta, went to 2 batches of local government pensioners and 11 batches of state pensioners.

Zita said in the last 14 months, payments have been stopped with the state Pensions Board, blaming the situation on the Ministry of Finance while the ministry on its part claimed all monies approved were released to the Board.

“We want the governor to find out where the N19.5 bn is “ Zitta said, noting the “beneficiaries are suffering”.

According to him, the union had reached out to the deputy governor, Comrade Yakubu Garba, for explanation without any success saying “we are being pushed to the wall”.

“The situation pensioners in Niger State have found themselves is least expected,” Zitta lamented, adding that even the mandatory review of pensions have not been carried out including the payment of death benefits to relations of benefitiaries, 2019 leave grant approved and “released”.

He asked the governor to digitalize the payment of pensions and gratuities when the investigation is completed.

All efforts to get the comments of the Commissioner for Finance and the Director General of the State Pensions Board were abortive as they were not on seat in their offices and did not respond to calls made to their cell phones.