By Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA—Former Head of Service, Stephen Oronsaye has exonerated himself from pension fraud stemming from the activities of the defunct Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, headed by Abdulrasheed Maina.

Orosanye

But in a swift reaction, the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, NUP, said Oronsaye actually midwifed the  idea.

Both parties spoke at the ongoing public hearing of the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee investigating the activities of the presidential task force on pensions reforms from 2010 to the time of its dissolution and any other successor agency.

Testifying before the committee chaired by Ananyo Nnebe, who represents Awka South federal constituency of Anambra State in the House, Oronsaye, however, said that during his tenure as the Head of the Service of the Federation, he set up a committee that carried out a comprehensive verification on the number of federal pensioners.

According to him, the exercise discovered a number of ghost pensioners, which eventually reduced the monthly expenditure of N1.5 billion to N882 million.

But contrary to Oronsaye’s claim of not being privy to the establishment of Maina’s task force, National President of NUP, Mr. Abel Akin Afolayan, in his presentation, said Oronsaye conceived the idea, adding that the committee also shortchanged pensioners.