Oyetola Issues N1bn Bond Certificates To 189 Retirees

Osun State Governor, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, on Tuesday presented bond certificates worth over N1.01bn to retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The affected pensioners were drawn from local government and primary school retirees.

Governor Oyetola said at the event that the beneficiaries were the 8th batch of pensioners that would be presented bond certificates.

Giving the breakdown of the beneficiaries, the governor said 84 of them were retired primary school teachers, while 105 others were former local government workers.

He added that the bond certificates distributed to the pensioners were worth N1,013,496.43, and promised to always give priority to the welfare of the senior citizens in the state.

In his address, the Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Local Government Staff Pension, Mr Kayode Afolabi, said since the state commenced the pension scheme, it had ensured regular remittance into employees’ Retirement Savings Accounts, funding of the Redemption Fund as well as the settlement of death benefits of deceased contributors.

He said, “Bond certificates were presented to selected retirees. The bond is the amount rendered to the government prior to the commencement of the scheme in May 2010.

“Whoever was in service prior to that time is due for a particular amount. The bond presented to them will be taken to their pension administrators, where the value of the bond would be added to their Retirement Savings Account; and the combination of the two is what would be deployed as payment of their retirement benefits.”

Responding on behalf of other beneficiaries, Mr Aderemi Agbaje, commended the governor for releasing the entitlements of the pensioners despite the dwindling resources available to the state.

He assured that pensioners in the state would continue to support Oyetola’s administration in his quest to leave good legacies.