The Katsina government has introduced a new pension reform law for employees in the state and local government services to address the bottlenecks bedevilling the system.

The commissioner for justice, Fadila Dikko, disclosed this at a press briefing on the new Katsina Pension Reforms Law, 2025, on Thursday in Katsina.

Ms Dikko said that the new pension law was introduced under Section 173 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The attorney general said the government had constituted the State and Local Governments Pension and Gratuity Reform Committee to advise the government on the implementation of the scheme, established by the immediate past administration.

She said that the law was necessitated by the need to address administrative bottlenecks bedevilling the system, such as a lack of an authentic database of pensioners, the huge gratuity, and the rising cost of pensions occasioned by an increase in salaries.

“It will assist with opening a Retirement Savings Account for the category of employees under the Contributory Pension Scheme and ensure that they receive satisfactory services from the Pension Fund managers,” Ms Dikko said.

The chairman of the State and Local Governments Pension and Gratuity Reform Committee, Farouq Aminu, explained that for those employees who have less than five years to retire, they would remain in the old system.

He added that those employees who have at least five to 30 years in service were placed under the Contributory Defined Benefits Pension Scheme.

According to him, their monthly pensions, gratuities, and death gratuities would be paid from funds contributed by both employees and the employer. He pointed out that the employer would contribute 13 per cent, while the employee would contribute seven per cent, for a total of 20 per cent.

Mr Aminu added that new staff with less than five years of service would be required to open pension accounts into which their deducted monies would be paid.

He said the government had raised the minimum monthly pension for retirees in the state from N5,000 to N10,000.

In a related development, Mr Radda on Thursday launched 14 additional buses purchased by the State Transport Authority from its Internally Generated Revenue, to boost transportation.

Speaking during the launch, Mr Radda commended the company’s leadership for achieving success within a short period.

Mr Radda said, “I am happy to hear that as of today, you have bought 33 additional buses with your IGR.”

(NAN)