WE HAVE PAID OVER N70BN FOR PENSIONS AND WE WOULD DO MORE: OGUN STATE GOVERNOR

Prince Dapo Abiodun, Governor of Ogun state stated in Ijebu-Ode during the Town Hall Meeting on 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and 2023 Budget for Ogun East Senatorial District that his administration has paid over N70bn as gratuity and pension to retirees in the last three and a half years and that the quarterly payment for pensions had been increased from N500m to N600m.

The governor, who took a swipe at the previous government for failing to pay the retirees their entitlements, said the amount was huge, but his Administration is doing what is necessary to ensure our retirees enjoy the fruits of their hard work as he assured them that their entitlement. ranging from global deductions, leave bonuses and others, would be paid as the finances of the state improve.

The Governor also disclosed that the State generated over N70bn from January to Septem­ber this year as Internal Gener­ated Revenue (IGR), saying the various financial policies put in place and the influx of investors has increased the internal reve­nue of the State.

“Some few days ago, someone sent me a video of an indigene of the State in Diaspora who claimed that the IGR of the State is on the decline. “Last year, our IGR was over 100bn. So, how can someone claim that our IGR is declining? This claim is false”, the governor explained.

He said this year’s meeting, which is a continuation of pre­vious ones, was the most import­ant as it is a transitional budget, adding that global best practices and financial engineering would be used to implement the budget that would continue to open up the State for more investments