Life Assurance: Kaduna Issues Cheques To 10 Beneficiaries – LEADERSHIP NEWS

Deputy Governor of Kaduna state, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, has issued cheques worth over N148 million to the first set of beneficiaries of the State Sinking Fund, a Life Assurance package created to replace the Group Life Assurance Scheme.

Speaking at a brief ceremony held at Government House to flag off the payment of the Life Insurance package, Dr Balarabe said “the state government tries as much as possible to ensure that those who work for it, reap from what they contributed”.

The Deputy Governor explained the rationale behind the insurance package, saying that workers shouldn’t only depend on their salaries because certain eventualities may occur and government should be able to cushion them when they do.

Dr Balarabe also said that the government encourages workers to engage in activities that will give them other streams of income.

“One of the reasons why we have declared the four-day work week is to give that time, Friday, for people to engage in other lawful businesses. So, we will always try and do what we could within our possible powers, to make sure that we keep our workers safe and we make their families comfortable in the event that we lose them,’’ she added.

Cheques were issued to 10 beneficiaries during the flag off of Life Assurance Package.

The Executive Secretary of the State Pension Bureau, Professor Salamatu Isah explained that government created the Sinking Fund in 2019 to replace the Group Life Assurance policy managed by an insurance firm, following stories of unpaid claims and untreated applications.

Professor Isah added that “the Sinking Fund is just benefits that accrued to someone who dies in active service. It is different from pension; you benefit when the person dies in service. The state government manages this through a committee. If a person applies, he will still have to supply us with the necessary documents.

According to her, the funds are kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Executive Secretary explained that the Sinking Fund is better than the Group Life Assurance, adding that in the latter arrangement, ‘’once you don’t make use of the funds or if there are no claims to it, you lose that money to them. That is why we said instead of losing money to these firms every year why not manage the funds ourselves?’’

“This Sinking Fund is advantageous in many ways; not only does it allow us to manage this funds with zero charges, it has an assured value because it will not be forgone to any insurer or bank, no matter how long it stayed, unlike how we had to lose funds when we did not utilize the monies we deposited with some of those insurance companies,’’ she added.