The Oyo State Government on Tuesday said it had reached an agreement with pensioners in the state on how the N42.3 billion unpaid gratuities and pension arrears would be cleared.
The Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of the state, Mr Seun Abimbola, said this at the resumed hearing of the suit filed at the National Industrial Court by the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) against Gov. Abiola Ajimobi.
Other respondents in the suit were the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Commissioner for Finance, Accountant-General and Head of Service.
The rest were the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters and Chairman, Oyo State Local Government Service Commission.
NUP instituted the suit on behalf of retired primary school teachers and local government pensioners, who were still owed their gratuities and pension, totalling N42.3billion.
Abimbola, who stood on behalf of the state, told the, court that the respondents had met severally with the claimants and terms of agreement had been put into writing for the court to adopt as consent judgment.
He, however, said that the government still had some few administrative processes to complete on the terms of settlement.
He said that out of the seven signatories to the agreement, two had yet to complete the process.
He, therefore, urged the court to grant him an adjournment in order for all the signatories to append their signatures.
Responding, Counsel to the claimants, Mr Lasun Sanusi (SAN) confirmed the development, saying all his clients had appended their signature to the document.
Sanusi said that the missing signatories on the agreement were from the government side.
He also urged the court to grant a short adjournment in order to fast-track the process of the settlement.
The presiding judge, Justice John Peter, consequently adjourned the matter to Feb. 14 for the adoption of terms of settlement.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other claimants in the matter were NUP Secretary, Mr Olusegun Abatan, Chairman, Retired Primary School Teachers, Mr Akinpelu Oladosu, and Mr Femi Akinleye.
