Pension cartel ‘rakes in N3.3b monthly’

The Chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, yesterday said a pension fraud cartel was swindling the Federal Government of about N3.3billion monthly before the team was put in place.

He said after verification by his team, the pension rates being paid by the government reduced from N5billion to N1.7billion.

He said the N28billion police pension fund found in an account will be returned to the Budget Office.

Maina, who spoke at a meeting with the Acting Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Ekpo Nta, said the team has recovered N151billion embezzled funds and assets from corrupt civil servants, especially those in charge of the Pension Office. 

He said a civil servant, who was involved in the pension racket, had 555 accounts.

“A figure of 258,000 pensioners was submitted to the Budget Office by the ‘cartel’ in the Pension Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation for which N5 billion was usually released monthly.

“But out of the N5 billion, the task force discovered that the government only needed N1.7 billion out of N5billion to pay the 70,657 genuine pensioners.

“The government is only paying N1.7billion to pensioners instead of the hitherto N5billion. Obviously, those profiting from the scam were not happy. They have been issuing threats to members of my team.

“We discovered about 71,133 ghost pensioners within the system, for whom the “cartel” behind the fraud had been collecting government money for years.

 “Also, about 44,320 retired persons were discovered never to have been paid their pension since 1968 and 1975. We have brought some of these pensioners on board and they now enjoy their pension. 

“During the systems review, we uncovered 66 fake accounts. There was a situation where about 555 accounts belonging to one person were discovered in a particular bank.

“We felt this could not have been possible without connivance of the bank management. It is really unfortunate and sad.”

Maina said the success was achieved through the system review scheme designed by his team of men from ICPC, EFCC, Customs, Immigration and other relevant security agencies.

He pleaded with the ICPC for closer ties so that all corrupt cases uncovered could be prosecuted.

He said: “If we can make these shocking discoveries in the Pension Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation alone, you can imagine the extent of fraud in all the 42 pension offices nationwide.

 He added that the robust database of pensioners built by the team as well as the e-payment system designed by the team really helped a great deal.

He said the Task Team had also succeeded in reducing the monthly pension of the Police from N1.5 billion to N500 million.

Maina said:  “At the Police Pension Office, the team also discovered some fraud that led to the reduction of their monthly delivery from the Budget Office from N1.5 billion, to N500 million. 

An idle fund of N28 billion was also discovered and is to be returned to the Budget Office.

“We have designed a smartcard solution that has cut this expenditure and made the exercise very convenient for the pensioners, who can do the verification without having to travel around the country thereby risking their lives.

 “The government should be able to fully fund pension even in the future if the tempo against fraud in pension offices is sustained.

 The Acting Chairman of ICPC, Mr Ekpo Nta, praised the Task Team for its achievements.

He said the commission has embarked on System Review of Public Department.