The Bauchi State Government has commenced payment of outstanding gratuities owed to retired civil servants between 2012 and 2016, with N10 billion released for the exercise.

Governor Bala Mohammed, represented by his Deputy, Auwal Jatau, announced the payment during the symbolic handover of a cheque on Wednesday.

Mohammed said validated records showed that the total outstanding gratuity obligations for the period amounted to N11.71 billion, covering both state and local government retirees.

He said the state government component involved 3,570 beneficiaries with outstanding obligations of N6.13 billion, while 2,262 local government retirees were owed N5.58 billion.

The governor said payments would be made progressively, taking into account the age of the outstanding obligations, completeness of documentation, verification and reconciliation, as well as funds approved for each phase.

He assured retirees that those not included in the first batch would not be excluded from subsequent payments.

Mohammed said many retired workers had waited for more than a decade to receive their gratuities, describing the backlog as one of the major challenges inherited by his administration.

He directed officials responsible for the exercise to ensure transparency, speed and fairness in the disbursement, while eliminating bureaucratic delays during verification.

The governor also directed that elderly retirees should be given priority and treated with dignity throughout the process.

He said the government had established the Bauchi State Contributory Pension Scheme to strengthen the management of pension-related matters, including data validation, verification and reconciliation.

Mohammed urged beneficiaries to provide the necessary documents, cooperate with the verification process and use the payments prudently.

The Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Sulaiman, said the legislature unanimously approved the release of funds for the payment of the outstanding gratuities.