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By Nasir Kura
The federal government has so far released N1.5 billion to all the certified next-of-kin to deceased civil servants as death benefits, Permanent Secretary (Service Welfare Office) in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, said on Wednesday.
Mrs Wilson-Jack, who disclosed this at the second edition of Permanent Secretaries’ Quarterly Forum with Labour Leaders in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in ABUJA, said the payment was made through the Federal Ministry of Finance.
She said out of 563 registered death benefits claims of deceased workers next-of-kin in 166 Ministries, Departments and Agencies, 497 claims have been verified, certified and approved for payment amounting to N1.3 billion.
She said the backlog of death benefits’ payment for the period not covered by the insurance policy subscribed to by the deceased workers would commence at the end of April.
“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 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.
She said the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation has designed a robust welfare package for civil servants who are still in active service, stressing that government’s reforms being championed by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, would not succeed without incentives and motivation for the workers.
“It 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), she said.
