By Lukman Olabiyi
Lagos State Government yesterday disclosed that it has disbursed a total of N16.6 billion to another set of 5886 retirees as pension benefits in the last one year.
Commissioner for establishments and training, Afolabi Ayantayo made this known on Friday, at the ongoing ministerial press conference in Alausa, Ikeja, said the money was paid to the retirees through the Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC) under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
Ayantayo added that since May 2019, a total of N63,702,967,870.37 has been paid to 19,814 retirees across various sectors like the mainstream service, local government, and parastatals.
He said, “Governor Sanwo-Olu has made significant progress in tackling backlogs. From February 2023 to April 2024, his administration paid N16,631,759,666.02 to 5,886 retirees.”
Ayantayo explained that in February 2024, the sum of N3.1 billion was paid to 1,013 retirees, while in March 2024, the sum of N4 billion was paid to 1,455 retirees, adding that in May 2024, N4.5 billion was approved as part of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s promise to “systematically eliminate the backlogs”.
Harping on pension increment, he said the state government in line with federal directive implemented a pension review for pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme in January 2024, adding that the review involved applying various percentage increases based on individual pension amounts.
“Governor Sanwo-Olu approved N109,913,751.48 for this adjustment to benefit pensioners from civil service, teaching service, and local government,” he said.
The commissioner also disclosed that with the introduction of the groundbreaking Learning Management System (LMS) in 2020, the state government has been able to train over 60,000 officers in a year.
Similarly, the State Parastatals Monitoring Office (PMO) also revealed that it will soon embark on a working tour of government-owned agencies from June, 2024.
The Permanent Secretary, PMO, Mrs. Adetutu Ososanya stated this at a ministerial press briefing, said the office has obtained an approval to embark on a working tour to all Parastatals/agencies and Government-owned companies.
According to Ososanya, the office will conduct on-the-spot assessment of the agencies’ operational activities, adding that PMO has conducted a major routine inspection exercise to over 80 parastatals and agencies across the state in a bid to ensure alignment with the government’s financial guidelines.
“The inspection enabled the office to have first-hand information of all the activities of the agencies and to measure their performances, effectiveness in delivering essential services to the people and meeting set targets,” she said.