Following an outcry over the challenges faced by pensioners who went for an audit organised by the Osun State Government on Monday, the Governor, Ademola Adeleke, on Tuesday approved the decentralisation of the exercise.
A statement by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, announced the decision of the governor.
The government had earlier directed that all bedridden and health-challenged pensioners would henceforth have their audit exercise conducted through telephone.
It subsequently directed that they would no longer be required to be physically present at the venue of the screening exercise.
The verification and audit exercise being handled by a consultant was marred by logistics and inadequate staff on Monday, with as many as 20 retirees suffering exhaustion during the exercise held in Osogbo, the state capital.
As part of measures to prevent reoccurrence of the experience of the retirees during Monday’s exercise, the government said the audit would be done at the Federal Constituency headquarters.
The statement reads, “This is to inform pensioners of all cadres to stay back in their respective areas as the State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke has approved a conditional decentralisation of the pension audit exercise.
“The auditing team will conduct the screening at the headquarters while mobile calls will also be used to access bedridden pensioners. Pensioners should therefore stop coming to Osogbo.
“Under the adjusted model, pensioners are to be screened at the headquarters of their federal constituencies. This is to be preceded by a pre-screening visitation to the selected centres at the headquarters.
“A test run of the new arrangement is to be held at two federal constituencies before the extension of the model to all the remaining seven federal constituencies. Full security and logistic support are already in place to ensure seamless conclusion of the screening exercise.”
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