Kano Pension Board Clears N21bn of N48.6bn Inherited from Ganduje Administration

The Executive Secretary of the Kano State Pension Board, Habu Muhammad Fagge, has announced significant progress in clearing the N48.6 billion pension and gratuity debts inherited from the administration of Dr. Umar Abdullahi Ganduje.

Fagge revealed that, under Governor Yusuf’s leadership, over N21 billion of the outstanding pension liabilities have been cleared within the first two years of his tenure.

Speaking in an interview, Fagge described the state of the board at the time of the current administration’s takeover as “deeply troubling,” revealing that pensioners suffered irregular and arbitrary deductions under the previous government, sometimes losing half of their meager monthly entitlements.

“At one point, pensioners receiving N6,000 had N3,000 deducted without explanation. We couldn’t find any clear formula for the deductions,” he said.

According to Fagge, the previous administration had borrowed extensively from the pension fund, which resulted in severe financial distress. He explained that the recovery process began when Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf approved direct deductions from the source for pension remittances.

This move helped restore regular payments and enabled the board to achieve 100% disbursement of pensions on a monthly basis.

“We inherited N48.6 billion in liabilities and also had to remit N75 billion that had been levied on local governments and some MDAs.

“Despite this, we’ve managed to settle N16 billion so far, with another N5 billion scheduled for disbursement soon,” Fagge said.

He praised the governor for showing empathy, noting that “even though the debt was inherited, His Excellency took responsibility and ensured payments were made, purely out of concern for the pensioners.”