FG Promises Full Payment of Unpaid Entitlements to Workers Disengaged in 20 Years

The Federal Government has assured workers disengaged from public service over the past 20 years that all verified outstanding entitlements owed to them will be fully paid.

The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dasuki Arabi, gave the assurance on Tuesday in Gombe State during an ongoing verification exercise for former workers and beneficiaries in the North-East who were either underpaid or denied their full allowances and entitlements.

Arabi said the government was determined to resolve all genuine claims, stressing that no disengaged worker with verified outstanding entitlements would be left unpaid.

“This is the final verification exercise. We want to bring this matter to an end and ensure that everyone who works and is entitled to payment receives his or her full entitlement,” he said.

According to him, President Bola Tinubu approved the final verification exercise as part of efforts to settle outstanding claims and complaints involving former government workers.

He said the BPSR was collaborating with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Auditor-General for the Federation and relevant anti-corruption agencies to authenticate records and ensure that only genuine beneficiaries received payment.

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Arabi disclosed that more than 99 per cent of cases brought against the government over unpaid entitlements had already been resolved.

He added that some claims were being pursued on behalf of deceased beneficiaries, with their relatives or legal heirs seeking to recover the money owed to them.

The BPSR boss urged former workers who were yet to receive their entitlements or believed they had been underpaid to come forward and submit their complaints for verification.

He also disclosed that some former workers were seeking reviews of their pensions, arguing that their retirement benefits did not accurately reflect their years of service and salaries earned before retirement.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Retirees at the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi, Yusuf Adamu, said some affected workers had served for about 22 years under different salary structures before eventually transitioning to the new system.

Adamu said although some outstanding payments had been made, several pension-related issues remained unresolved.

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He explained that some retirees earned between N200,000 and N300,000 before retirement, but their current pensions did not adequately reflect their final salary grades.

He appealed to the government to review the affected cases and ensure that pensions were properly calculated based on retirees’ years of service and the applicable salary structure at the time of retirement.