Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun has announced the increment of the quarterly pension payment to N1 billion.

Mr Abiodun made this known while addressing pensioners at an interactive session held at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, on Monday.

The governor informed them that his administration met arrears of over N80 billion and had since developed ways of defraying it.

“When we came in, we met pension arrears of over N80 billion. We started paying N500 million at a time. We later increased it to N600 million monthly.

“I am expecting about N280 billion from the federal government being the money we spent constructing federal roads.

” I can assure you that as soon as I get that money, I will pay between N10 and N18 billion as pensions and gratuities,” the governor said.

Mr Abiodun disclosed that no gratuity was paid from 2012 until he assumed office in 2019.

He announced an increment of N15,000 for pensioners who were previously collecting N5,000 monthly pensions to cushion the economic impact on them.

He added that his administration had devised various ways, including providing needed infrastructure, security and enabling environment for more investments to increase the state’s Internally Generated Revenue.

The governor stated that his administration was not unmindful of the senior citizens’ plight, adding that the government had made a special arrangement to care for pensioners who needed urgent medical treatment.

He pleaded for patience and understanding as his administration tried to attend to their issues, pledging to have such interactive sessions twice a year.

Earlier, the state chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Waheed Oloyede, had urged the state government to increase the monthly pension of those still collecting N5,000.

Mr Oloyede called for the review of pensions in the state in line with what is obtainable at the federal level.

He called for a regular interface between the pensioners and the state government to enable them to solve any impending issues.

(NAN)