The Kaduna State Government has released N920 million to settle outstanding pension liabilities, including death benefits and gratuities. According to a statement issued from Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, the payment schedule dated 9 March 2023 covers state and local‑government pensioners under the old Defined Benefits Scheme. State pensioners will receive N400 million, while local‑government beneficiaries will receive N520 million.
In November 2022, Governor Nasir El‑Rufai approved N900 million for the payment of accrued rights to retirees and families of deceased beneficiaries under the new Contributory Pension Scheme. Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Pension Bureau, Prof. Salamatu Isah, explained that this amount covered batch 54 for both state and local‑government retirees and the families of the deceased. She noted that payments to retirees under the contributory scheme are made by Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs), with the government only paying past savings—known as accrued rights—which represent entitlements accrued before the 2017 introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme. These accrued rights are paid to PFAs rather than directly to individual beneficiaries.
Isah provided a breakdown of the November 2022 allocation: N600 million was earmarked for state retirees and deceased families, and N300 million for local‑government retirees and families of the deceased. This release followed El‑Rufai’s earlier approval, two weeks prior, of N1,160,000,000 for gratuities to batch 17 local‑government pensioners and batch 19 state‑government retirees and families of the deceased under the old Defined Benefits Scheme.
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