Kano appraises contributory pension scheme 10 yrs after implementation
Kano state government has converged in Kaduna for a 2-day stakeholders conference on 10 years anniversary of the implementation of contributory pension scheme with a view to appraising it’s impact.
Governor of Kano state, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in his keynote address said the state has been able to pay salaries due to its ability to manage meager resources and blocking of leakages and waste.
He said, “Three years ago when we assumed the mantle of leadership of Kano state, our administration was not insulated from the global economic meltdown and therefore confronted with worldwide recession which significantly imposed limitations on our earnings.
“The adverse effects of the recession lingered long creating a stumbling block on our capacity to meet our ultimate desire from pastracking development of the state and improving the quality of well-being if it’s citizens.”
Represented by the Head of Civil Service, Kano state, Muhammad Auwal Na’iya, the governor expressed gratitude that despite the constraints, the state has been able to modestly deliver on most of its aspirants on socio-economic development.
He added, “Among the foremost challenges we encountered on assumption of office in May, 2015 was in the area of payment of salaries to the tune of N3.7 million to 55,377 civil servants under the payroll of the state government, we were equally confronted with a number of local government councils that were unable to pay salaries to their employees due to significant shortfall of their earnings from the federation amount as a result of recession.
He however urged the Pension Trustees to dispassionately look at issues and suggest ways, manners and options to get around all the identified challenges and proper solutions.
On his part, the Head of Civil Service, Muhammad Auwal Na’iya who was represented by the Permanent Secretary Establishments, Hajiya Amina Musa said concerned by the need to evolve sustainable measures to address challenges of pension, the state government initiated the Contributory Pension Scheme modelled on the Federal Government’s Initiative but adapted to suit the state’s peculiarities.