Kano State’s governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has said that he is prepared to take legal action in order to recover the N5.4 billion in monthly pension contributions that were withheld and not remitted by the Abdullahi Ganduje government.

The governor declared that withholding employees’ monthly pension contributions from their paychecks is intolerable.

Speaking at the flag-off of the N5 billion gratuity payment to 4000 retirees, Yusuf stated that receiving a pension is a right, not a privilege.

In order to request an investigation of the deducted monthly pension contributions, the governor requested the pensioners to submit a petition to the State administration.

He promised that his administration will make sure their money was returned.

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“The mess we’re in right now is that every penny that was taken out of your monthly pension checks—more than N5.4 billion—was taken to personal accounts rather than the state treasury, but we’re determined to get it back,” he promised.

Yusuf continued by saying that the Gabduje government left N43 billion in pension arrears for his administration.

The state accountant general, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdussalam, clarified that Governor Yusuf is dedicated to covering the ten-year pension backlog.

Prior to the 2023 election, Comrade Salisu Gwale, the Chairman of the Nigeria Pensioners Union in Kano State, said that “we asked how the new government will solve the problem of pension in Kano, with over N43 billion unpaid pensions.”

Gwale expressed regret that Ganduje’s administration had not done enough for the retirees.