Borno civil servants jubilant as leave grants, 3-year promotional benefits hit accounts

Civil servants across Borno state are in jubilant mood following the payment of leave grants and three years promotional benefits, after Governor Babagana Umara Zulum directed the immediate release of the entitlements to workers.

The payments began hitting the accounts of civil servants Thursday and continued through the weekend, following the governor’s recent directive for the immediate settlement of the outstanding entitlements.

The approval was granted during a meeting Monday, between Governor Zulum and the leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), after the Office of the Head of Service submitted a proposal for consideration.

Zulum directed the immediate implementation of promotional benefits for all civil servants across the state for 2023, 2024, and 2025, the payment of leave grants for all entitled civil servants for the 2025 session, and a review of salary arrears for secondary and tertiary education staff, with a view to implementation by September, 2026.

Since assuming office in 2019, Zulum administration has prioritised the welfare of civil servants and retirees, alongside the settlement of entitlements owed deceased workers’ families.

The governor has rolled out a series of measures to improve the wellbeing of civil servants, spanning salaries, pensions and gratuities, health insurance, promotions and transportation.

Recent interventions include N8 billion to clear pension and gratuity liabilities accrued between 2019 and 2021 for retired primary school teachers and other civil servants, N5.8 billion to settle the remaining gratuity backlog for families of deceased civil servants and pensioners, a N200 million monthly allocation for the payment of outstanding gratuities and the implementation of a health insurance scheme, among other measures.