The Kwara State Government has revealed that pensioners in the state have yet to receive the newly approved N70,000 minimum wage due to widespread payroll fraud and failure by many retirees to complete mandatory data registration.
A statement issued on Sunday by Babatunde Abdulrasheed, Press Secretary to the Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Hauwa Nuru, confirmed that although the state had approved an upward review of monthly pensions, implementation was stalled due to fraudulent activities and poor compliance with the Kwara State Resident Registration Agency process.
“Over 73% of our pensioners have not enrolled with the Resident Registration Agency despite nearly a year of sensitization,” Dr. Nuru said. “This has made it difficult to verify their details for accurate payment.”
The state government had earlier approved an additional N10,000 monthly payment for pensioners, effective from May 1, 2025. However, only those whose details are verified through the KWSRRA database will benefit from the increase.
“In our efforts to clean the payroll and free up resources, we can no longer pay unverified individuals,” Nuru added. “Unfortunately, we’ve discovered a cartel manipulating the payroll system to siphon funds. These fraudulent activities have been reported to law enforcement for investigation and prosecution.”
According to the government, the resistance to the registration process may be linked to the said payroll syndicate.
“This group is employing various tactics to sabotage the verification exercise, but we are closing in on them,” the Finance Commissioner stated.
The agreement for the pension review was reached with the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council and the Nigerian Union of Pensioners on May 23, 2025. The increase applies to all pensioners in the state public service.
It will be recalled that the Kwara State Government had approved the N70,000 minimum wage for workers beginning October 2024. However, a number of pensioners are still owed salaries for March and April 2025, pending completion of the verification process.