Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Federal Government has disclosed that it has so far the sum of N1.5 billion to pay all the certified next-of-kin to deceased civil servants, as death benefits through Finance Ministry.
Permanent Secretary, Service Welfare Office in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Didi Walson-Jack, disclosed this Wednesday at the second edition of Permanent Secretary’s quarterly forum with labour leaders in ministries, Departments and Agencies. The Service Welfare News Letter Website and Digital Help Desk was also released.
According to her, out of the 563 registered death benefits claims of deceased workers’ next-of-kin in 166 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), 497 claims , amounting to N1.3 billion, have been verified, certified and approved for payment. Walson-Jack, explained that the backlog payment for death benefits for the period not covered by the insurance policy subscribed to by the deceased workers, would commence by the end of this April.
The permanent secretary said: “It is equally important to point out that the sum of N1.5 billion has been released by the Ministry of Finance for payment of some of the backlog of death benefits for the period not covered by insurance policy. “In order to make payments to deceased Next-of-kin, a service wide verification exercise of backlog of death benefits claims of 563 deceased officers cutting across 166 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) was conducted in January 2019 to confirm the veracity of the claim requests submitted by the MDAs. “After the verification exercise, a total of 497 next-of-kin of deceased officers have been cleared for payment of N1.3 billion. The payment to beneficiaries is expected to commence before the end of this month “, she said.
Walson-Jack also explained that, the Office of the Head of Service has also designed a robust welfare package for civil servants who are still in service.
According to her, the reforms being championed by the Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita, would not succeed without incentives and motivation for the workers, adding that the current administration was working out a policy that would guarantee a better reward system for them.
“This cannot be achieved without the use of motivation which ties incentives and rewards to better performance. Pursuant to this laudable initiatives, the service welfare office has submitted a robust proposal for the institutionalisation of a Rewards and Recognition System (R&RS).”