ADAMAWA STATE, THE ISSUE OF GRATUITY AND STARTLING REVELATION

By Usman Santuraki
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The security of one in the civil service is to retire from service

after putting in thirty five or attained sixty in age.

But the recent revelation by the Chief of Staff, Alhaji Abdulrahama

Abba Jimeta, that on rough estimate, the total amount of gratuity in

the state stood at nearly Thirty billion naira.
The statement was made during an interview with the state owned

television station(ATV) to clarify the share of the refund of the

Paris Club given to the state.
As Dr Bala Mohammed, a columnist with Daily Trust Saturday in his

column of 28 January, 2017 said"one of the attraction of public

service is the assurance of security and the expectation of benefits

of retirement". This aptly capture the desire of any person, who chose

the public service, the moment he starts a sojourn in the field.

What is happening in Adamawa State is quite worrisome for the fact,

that successive administrations in the state failed to pay the

retirees, which culminated in piling up the billions.

It is so sad and pathetic for the sorry situation, the public servants

find themselves with the non payment of gratuity to those who left the

service due to retirement.
The government seriously need to do something very urgent as every day

people are continuing been retired thereby increasing the gratuity.

The government should evolve a way out to see, that the gratuities of

public servants is paid in order to solve their problems.

It is a very unfortunate situation in Adamawa State, that those who

spent the part of their life time in the service of the state are left

to wallowing in object misery after a meritorious service due to the

non payment of their gratuities to enable them start something in

order to keep body and soul together.
Therefore, it is instructive for the present administration to see,

that something tangible is done in paying the gratuities of retirees.

Leaving the retirees payment unattended would not augur well for the

state.
The government retirees are at the receiving end, for the fact, that

the payment of gratuity to a retiring civil servant was stop for a

long period of time and this rise up the amount to a staggering

billions of naira. It is important for the present administration to

start reducing down the amount by improving the revenue base of the

state.
Allowing the amount to be continuously piling up is a sort of

disservice for the future generation of public servants, who may want

to join the public service.
Honestly, the working public servants in Adamawa State are in a

serious dilemma as a result of the non payment of gratuity these days.

Let the government find a way out of the quagmire in order for the

public servant got respite and got a brighter future.

As things stand now, the future of the public servants in Adamawa

State is quite bleak as such, it become absolutely necessary for the

government to start something positive toward solving the issue of

gratuity in the state
By
Usman Santuraki
No2 Santuraki Close
Jambutu
Jimeta-Yola
[email protected]