By Josephine Oguntoyinbo

Ondo State House of Assembly has stressed the need to put expertise into play in pension administration of the State to achieve desired result.

It also assured of legislative support in ensuring that the welfare of pensioners in the State is taken as priority.

The House Committee on Human Capital Development who stated this during their familiarisation visit to the Pension Transitional Department in Akure, charged the Management to formulate policy that would benefit every retirees.

The Chairman of the Committee representing Ose constituency, Olatunji Oshati who led other members on the visit posited that all hands must be on deck to ensure that the senior citizens receive their pensions and gratuities as and when due.

To him, these set of people deserves nothing but the best, having served the State meritoriously, hence the committee will work at ensuring that budget allocating to the department gets a boost.

Other members assured the department of necessary support, canvassed for robust relationship between them and the Assembly to achieve better results.

The lawmakers commended the department for the service rendered, urging them to do more in facilitating the payment of pensions and gratuities.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary in the department, Abiodun Akinseloyin who briefed the committee about their activities and challenges explained that the department is under the office of the State Head of Service with the responsibility of handling pension benefits of retired workers.

The PS averred that there are lots of backlogs of gratuities and their is pressure owing to paucity of fund, saying that though the present government is trying to ensure that on monthly basis, some funds are released for payment of gratuity and will soon be true with the payment of 2013 set.

The PS who sought for the support of the committee believed that the visit will have positive impact on the department.