AN Executive Council Bill tailored to solve problems associated with pensions and gratuities in Bauchi has been sent to the State House of Assembly for legislation and subsequent passage to meet the desired objective.
The Pensions Reform Bill geared towards introducing a contributory pension for the first time in Bauchi has the state government expecting the legislators to pass it without unnecessary delay so as to deal with the pressing issue once and for all.
At a welcome address to a three-day workshop on accountability and good governance for top political appointees and higher echelon of the state civil service in Bauchi recently, the Secretary to the State Government, Ibrahim Mohammed Kassim said that pensions and gratuities have been the most pressing issues bedeviling the state government.
Kassim spoke at the workshop whose participants were commissioners, advisers and chairmen of Local Government Councils, that discussions for the smooth passage of the proposed bill have been concluded between the Executives, and legislators who were to resume from recess next week, on modalities for the smooth passage of the proposed bill.
The Bauchi State Government’s Scribe explained that in anticipation of the easy passage bill, the state government is going to float a bond with the Pensions Contributory Commission to raise money with a view to settle every liability of each and every pensioner in the state.
Kassim, who noted that the Federal Government and other states in the federation have since completely solve pension issues by introducing the contributory pension scheme, said that with bond the state employees would henceforth keep their pensions in an account that nobody access it but them, to enjoy it anytime they retire from office.
The SSG said, “We hope the bond will be for about 40 years, so that the small amount the state now pays to pensioners would be used to offset the bond after they would have been settled once and for all”.
“So why are we doing that, is because we believe people that worked for the state would be able to enjoy their entitlements in peace, and by the grace of God, that is the journey we have started and we are going to complete it”, Kassim concluded.
Senator Bala Mohammed said that as a democratically elected government, they owe the electorate and entire people of the state duty to deliver to them the dividends of democracy.
The Governor however noted that government policies and programmes cannot be implemented on the basis of trial and error, but by informed competent and knowledgeable minds, in addition to harmonious interpersonal relationship and intra-agency synergy among the various MDAs in the state.
According to him, the present democratic dispensation in the state provides for a cordial arrangement where the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary though independent of each other constitute the tripod upon which the system rests.
“In spite of their mutual independence, the three arms of government have the common goal of engendering and sustaining democracy and good governance. The need therefore for cooperation between them cannot be over-emphasized”.
He further explained that members of the three arms need to be educated not only on their individual and collective roles, but also on how to synergize towards the realization of their common goal of sustaining democracy and good governance for the benefit of the generality of the people of Bauchi state.
