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Delta State Executive Council (Exco) has approved the Harmonised Rights of Pensioners, to ensure that retirees from Delta Civil Service live comfortably.
It also approved more than N800 million as compensation for the land that would host Kwale Industrial Park and the streamlining of the Ministry of Youths Development’s activities of among others.
This was disclosed by the Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, who was with his youth development counterpart, Ifeanyi Egwuyenga, in a post-Exco news briefing in Asaba, the state capital.
He said, “To address the issue of accrued rights of pensioners, Governor Okowa set up a committee and the committee commenced work as far back as October 2015.
“At a point, we lost hope and thought the issue will not be dealt with during this administration; but today, the State Executive Council has approved the harmonisation of accrued rights of pensioners in this state.”
He added that the council appreciated Ndokwa people who made their land available to the Okowa’s administration for speedy development of the state.
“We are aware that to ensure the development of Kwale Industrial Park, there was a roadshow in China, which has started attracting investors and, at the Exco meeting today the people were commended for agreeing to part with their land for development activities to take place.
“Exco approved the sum of N800 million as compensation for the land, which measures more than 1,000 hectares and we are confident that the multiplier benefits of having the Kwale Industrial Park are enormous. The area is strategically located for investors to have quick returns on their investments,” he said.
According to him, chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Goodluck Oforbruku; and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Martins Bolum, were at the Exco meeting over the pension issue.
The commissioner also disclosed the government’s approval of the Abah-Unor stool in Aniocha South Council.
Oforbruku, while expressing gratitude to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for being workers-friendly, said the governor had earned a position in the Workers Hall of Fame and would be inducted on May 1.
“In other words, Delta State government will use the N18,000 minimum wage to calculate the pension entitlement of retirees in the state. This means that those who retired as far back as 2011, instead of the N7,500 minimum wage that was used to calculate their entitlement, government has approved that the N18,000 minimum wage be used.
“That has been our struggle and that is what the State Executive Council just approved today. It might interest you to note that the Contributory Pension Law in the state says that when an officer retires, he should go home with at least 50 per cent of his last salary, but when the N7,500 minimum wage was being used, officers were going home with 15 to 30 per cent of their last salary.
“So, government has approved that we implement what is in the law and it will cost the state government a whopping N37 billion from March 2011 to December 2019.”
