By Emma Ujah, & Inalegwu Shaibu
THE Five days public hearing held by the Senate joint Committee on Establishment, State and Local Government probing pension administration in country under chairmanship of Senator Aloysius Etok in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, did not only expose the rot in the administration of the defunct deferred Pension scheme, otherwise known as Pay-As-You-Go, it also opened a can of worms.

Before the Abuja hearing, the committee visited Lagos, Enugu, Uyo, Makurdi and Kaduna, and received several presentations from stakeholders including state governments.

It will be recalled that the joint committee was set up to among others, probe the pension administration in the country and find lasting solutions to the problem of inefficient and corrupt pension administration in Nigeria.

*From left: Sen. Adegbenga Kaka,member of committee, Sen. Aloysious Eto, Chairman Joint committee of Establishment & Public service and state &local government administration, and Sen. Femi Ojudu, member of committee, during the Public Hearing on Comprehensive Investgation of Payment of Pension and Management/Administration of Pension Funds in South-West Zone Lagos, Nigeria. Photo: Bunmi Azeez

This came up in the wake of about N700billion fraud uncovered in the Pension unit of the Head of Service, HOS, of the Federation by Pension Reform Taskforce Team, headed by Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina.

The Senate had to move in when several petitions against the activities of the Task Force set up by the former Head of Service, HOS, Mr. Steve Oronsaye, kept flooding the National Assembly.

The taskforce team was asked to clean up the rot the Federal civil service pension. The clean up mandate given to Maina was also extended to the Police Pension Board by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The key players at the HoS pension Office and the Police Pension Office were invited to the committee’s sitting to make presentations and answer questions on pension administration and their level of involvement in the sharp practices.

Task force team accused of corruption

At the hearing, new twist was added to the rot as Alhaji Maina Task Force was accused  of not only hindering smooth pension administration but indeed alleged that its members helped themselves with  the funds meant for pensioners.

The Taskforce Team was accused of mismanagement N21billion of Police Pension and that Maina opened an account for his brother, Mr. Danjuma Zubairu.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Toyin Ishola, an Assistant Chief Accountant in the Police Pension office, accused Alhaji Maina of several fraudulent activities within the three months period he spent at the police pension fund.

He said, “Within the three months that the taskforce team came to the police pension, a lot of fraudulent activities went on, the Chairman used N240 million to capture only 20 retirees with the biometric data. He also awarded contracts in the tune of N12 million for the machines and to cover for his frauds, the contract was divided into small units.

“The Chairman opened three accounts within three months. There was N8 billion in Fidelity Bank, N3 billion in UBA, and N10 billion First Bank, Maitama branch. The account in the Fidelity Bank was domiciled in the name of the younger brother of the chairman, Danjuma Zubairu.

We went to him to change the signatory to the account four times; he refused and said unless the chairman approved the change of signatory first. The said amount was fixed since then with monthly interest of N100 million. He has expended over N3 billion within this period with no proper records at the police pension office.”

But documents in Pension and You’s possession indicate that the bank accounts allegedly opened by the Task Force members were indeed opened in the name of Police Pension Office.

One is with UBA, 101-5556-733.  The Fidelity Bank account was equally opened in the name of Police Pension Office with DCP, Toyin Ishola, being signatory, among others

The allegations of fraud against Maina also include paying 10 British pensioners on monthly pension of £64 each N1.5 billion.

N1.5 billion paid to 10 Britons

Permanent Secretary, Establishment, in the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Charles Bonat, told Senate panel that the money was for retired British officers who served during the colonial period.

Senator Etok had demanded explanations on why N1.5 billion was transferred to a foreign account in the United Kingdom by the task force team.

Etok asked, “I am sure £6 million must have accrued more than £3 million interest by now and only 10 of these people are alive and the record from the High Commissioner said these people are on monthly pension of £64 pounds, so why this big amount?”

The committee also demanded for the whereabouts of N4.5 billion five percent federal government share of pension paid to states between 2010 and 2011, which the permanent secretary initially said had not been paid.

He explained to the committee that N4.5 billion was being managed by the Taskforce Team, saying “Five percent was done up to the first quarter of 2010 and then HOS suspended it when the Taskforce Team came in.

“I can confirm that funds are budgeted for all these annually. 2010 warrant indicates for local government pension and gratuities including state of N4.2 billion. 2011 is reimbursement to state in the sum of N250 million. To the best of my knowledge, for first quarter, N500 million was paid to local government pension board.”

Lamode, Ringim names used to collect money

The committee was told that the names of Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde and former Inspector General of Police, Hafis Ringim, were used to collect travel claims of N4.8 million each, while the name of the Chairman, Abdulrasheed Maina appeared in three places for travel claims on the same trip.

Lamorde who appeared before the committee, denied collecting such claims saying he never travelled to the United States as claimed by the Taskforce Team.

Lamorde said, “I never traveled out of Nigeria within this period. I do not know anything about this. I do not have account in First bank where the money is said to be paid into.”

Maina however told the committee that the money had been returned to the treasury when it was discovered that Lamorde did not travel.

Also, Maina’s was accused of using N240 million in biometric data verification exercise for capturing only 20 retired pensioners.

He however denied the allegations insisting that the Taskforce team saved over N28 billion that would have otherwise gone to private pockets.

On the allegation of opening an account for his brothers, he said that Danjuma Zubairu is from Kogi state and the Group Head, Private Banking Abuja Region of Fidelity Bank Plc. Alh. Maina is from Biu in Borno State.

He told the Senate panel how staff of the pension office of HOS defrauded the Police Pension funds of N24 billion.

He said that 32 civil servants in the HOS office falsified documents to withdraw N24 billion from the Budget office for the payment of pension that required only N3.5 billion.

The fraudulent activities also include discovery of how the 32 staff of the office including a director of pension siphoned over N18 billion by inserting names of primary school teachers in the pension pay rolls.

He said the team also discovered that about N200 million to N300 million were being withdrawn from the accounts daily by the civil servants.

He said, “So many primary school teachers were used as conduit pipes to siphon pension funds. For instance a primary school teacher in Kebbi was paid N3 million each month and he takes 10 per cent and refunds the rest to the pension staff. It was through this process that the total number of pensioners were inflated to 141,790, which cost the federal government N1.3 billion monthly.”

NUP, part of the scam

On the biometric verification, he noted that the Team reduced the over-bloated figures of genuine pensioners to 70,658, with a corresponding reduction of the monthly budget paid to them to N825 million.

According him, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP collaborated with the civil servants to siphon part of the pension funds.

He gave an instance where the taskforce found out how the bank account of the NUP, where the monthly check off dues of the association kept growing from N15 million to over N2 billion due to proceeds from the alleged fraud in the scheme.

He said this extra amount was later transferred to the bank accounts of the fraudulent 32 staffs at the office of the HOS.

The committee expressed shock with the  revelation, lamenting that the fraud in the system had denied retired pensioners their entitlements.

As the public hearing came to close Friday, Nigerians who have been inundated with many probes by the National Assembly in recent times are wondering if the pension probe will bring the much needed succour to pensioners in Nigeria or end up inconclusive just like others.

Certainly, Senator Aloysius Etok  and his team must see that they work honestly in the interest of the pensioners and the nation in general, as many in the Task Team have alleged that the allegations and counter allegations against the Task Force could be a way to discredit it, particularly given the fact the fact the officers accused of fraud in both the Office of the HoS and Police Pension Office, have failed to defend themselves on.