Retired civil servants in Lagos State, South-West Nigeria, may soon have cause to smile as  the state government is making plans to increase their monthly pay.

The State Commissioner for Establishment and Training, Mr. Jide Sanwo-Olu, gave this hint  while explaining the rationale behind the new technology introduced by the state government  to curb the stress pensioners go through during verification exercises.

The commissioner said the state government was concerned that these senior citizens of the  state may not after all be comfortable with their monthly pay package considering the rate  of inflation and the current high cost of living.

“At the moment, we are looking at what we are currently paying to our pensioners and we are  probably at the point where we would be recommending an adjustment to that figure.

“I don’t want to comment formally on it but we should be making some recommendations to the  appropriate authorities to see if we can improve on what we are currently giving them.


“This is to curb inflation and also be sure that they have an amount that could meet their  needs at their later part of life,” he said.

The commissioner, however, explained that the state government was still owing some  pensioners. These set of pensioners, he said, were those who retired from the civil service  in March this year.

On why the pensioners had not been paid, Mr. Sanwo-Olu said the state government was  liaising with pension fund administrators of the recently introduced contributory pension  scheme of the state.

According to him, the pensioners affected had only contributed some funds to the scheme  before their retirement, adding that the government was making plans to offset the backlog  of the funds that would make up their gratuities.

—Eromosele Ebhomele