How ghost pensioners pocketed N12bn in 3 years – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has revealed before a Federal High Court in Abuja, how N12 billion was paid to ghost pensioners between 2008 and 2010.

The anti-graft agency, through a proof of evidence it entered before the high court, yesterday, maintained that the alleged scam was masterminded by a former Director of the Pensions Department in Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, OHCSF, Dr Sani Teidi Shuaibu, and four others.

According to the EFCC, the four other persons in the alleged fraud were a former Deputy Director, Pensions Finance and Account at the Office of the Head of Service, who it said was a signatory to pension accounts; Mrs Phina Ukamaka Chidi, an ex-Assistant Director in-charge of variation; Mr Mohammed Katun Ahmed, the cash officer of pensions accounts; Mr Garba Abdullahi Tahir and the Head Final Accounts at the OHCSF, Mr. Emmanuel Aderemi Olanipekun.

Besides identifying multiple bank accounts operated by each of the accused persons, the EFCC equally listed the names of 25 companies it said were used to defraud the Federal Government within three years.

It alleged that the accused persons conspired by false pretence and with intent to defraud, obtained from the pensions department, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation of Nigeria, various sums of money at varying periods, and transferred same to several bank accounts opened with fictitious names.

It stressed that though the names on the said bank accounts were fake, the various accounts were opened with the passport photographs of the accused persons.

Each of them were said to have operated more than 10 bank accounts, with some of them having more than four separate accounts in one bank.

According to a 25-count criminal charge preferred against the accused persons, their offence is contrary to section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act.

In his testimony before the trial court, an operative of the EFCC and team leader of pension fraud investigation, Mr Aliyu Habibu Adamu, said the agency was in 2010, invited by the Presidential Task Team on Pension to assist in the verification/biometric enrollment exercise of the OHCSF pensioners.

He said: “As a result of that exercise several ghost pensioners were discovered. In the course of investigation, two payment mandates dated 31/8/2009 for N45,360,103.57 and N49,111,592.20 were discovered to have been paid to only 32 numbers of people which seemed suspicious.

“Based on that, letters were written to relevant banks to furnish us with a certified true copy of the statements of account, account opening mandates and other relevant information of suspicious pensioners. The banks replied on various dates where it revealed that the individuals were not genuine pensioners.

“I raised a sub-investigation team from my team which was briefed on the facts of the case and they were sent to various locations in Nigeria to interview and where necessary arrest the suspects. The fraudulent payments were made from the OHCSF.”

Meanwhile, presiding Justice Adamu Bello, yesterday, fixed June 25 for all the accused persons to appear in court for trial.

Some of the companies allegedly used to perpetuate the fraud were named as Zumba Resources, Lopee Ventures, Gozinda Enterprises, Bashinta Nigeria Ltd, Obista Enterprises, Shallo Well Ventures, Redwing Energy Limited, Figure International Agency, Newgate Projects Limited, among others.

Source:Vanguardngr

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38 Police retirees die waiting for pension

No fewer than 38 retired Police officers have died while waiting for the payment of their pension while over 28 names of the retired officers are now missing on the list of the retirees, Chief Effiong Orok, chairman, Association of Retired Police Officers of Nigeria, Cross River State chapter has said.

Chief Orok, who retired as an Assistant Commissioner of Police, in an interview in Calabar, Friday, also appealed to the National Assembly committee in charge of Police Pension Fund to be alive to their oversight function so as to put a stop to the high rate of fraud taking place in management of Police Pension.

He disclosed that six pensioners had reported to his office that their names were removed from the list of the 28 members whosenames were missing and that even those whose names were on the list had not been paid while those who received their money were under paid.

In a statement, Orok appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that their pension was paid before they die, stressing that regular payment of their pensions and arrears ould not stop the investigation of the recently discovered fraud allegedly perpetuated by the chairman of Pension Reform Taskforce Team led by Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina.

“The Pensioners whose welfare the whole exercise is all about, is left in the blizzard of suffering. Many pensioners whose names were in the pay roll before the biometric verification of July, 2011, do not see their names in the pay roll again.

“They are left without pay since August and September, 2011 till date. Those whose names appear are paid once every three months, since the year started, we have been paid once. We are now crying to the Federal Government that we are roasting in the economic heat facing everyone.

“We have been informed that the pension fund has been frozen. We are aware that intrigues and calculated attempt to cover up irregularities have trailed the investigation,” he said.

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When 80-Year-Old Pensioner Slumped, Died During Verification

When a civil servant reaches 60 years of age or has been in public service for 35 years-whichever comes first- he or she is considered ripe for retirement. A lump sum of money, known as gratuity, is expected to be quickly paid to such person as part of the reward for his or her years of service. Afterwards, the retired worker awaits a monthly payment of pension to sustain the worker till death comes knocking.

The ideal situation captured above is far from being the case in Nigeria where the story of the welfare of retired workers is a tale of mournful lamentation over a backlog of unpaid pension and even gratuity.

Just last week, an 80-year-old man, Mr Samuel Olatunji, slumped and died in Ibadan, while waiting to have his fingerprints captured during a verification of pensioners exercise by officials from Abuja.

Three other pensioners became exhausted as a result of the slow pace of the exercise held at the federal secretariat in Ikolaba, Ibadan and also slumped but did not die as they were quickly rushed to hospitals.

The state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Alhaji Lateef Adegoke, in an interview with newsmen, said Olatunji collapsed because he was unable to stand the rigours of waiting to have his thumbprints registered.

“When he slumped, we rushed him to a car nearby and got him stabilised in the car. But suddenly, he just gasped for breath and passed on. It is unfortunate,” he said.

According to him, the slow pace of the exercise was occasioned by inadequate biometric machines. He explained that out of the three machines brought to capture the finger prints of about 9,000 retired workers, only two were working. He stated further that all the pensioners in the entire states under the defunct Western Region were lumped together in Oyo State for verification.

Mr Samuel Olatunji, who is the chairman NUP, Eruwa branch, where the deceased was a member, said the late Olatunji retired many years ago and was being paid N1,000 monthly. He was being owed a year’s pension by the Federal Government before he died.

The late elderly pensioner retired in 1995 from the Forestry Department of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture as a Grade Level 1 worker. After his retirement, he went into full-time farming before he was hit by diabetes until his death last week.

For most of other pensioners, it is the same tale of jeremiad. Mrs Agnes Ayinde from Oyo State retired from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture about a decade ago. She remarked that since they started going for the verification exercise, they had been tossed around by officials like chaff.

“They discriminate in deciding those who they attend to. They attend to those who they know and we do not know anyone except God,” she lamented.

Continuing, Mrs Ayinde said, “Two days ago, a vehicle hit one of us, though unknowingly, and broke the leg of the old pensioner. Do you know that if we had been paid well and in good time, we would not have experienced this artificial hardship? When the officials came for the last exercise, they said our names had been removed from the payroll because we joined service as labourers.

“They said those who got employment through government gazette would not be paid, that such is not valid without a letter of appointment. Since that time, they had stopped my pension.

“The Federal Government has a lot to learn from states in pension payment, especially in Oyo State. State officials will provide canopy and shelter us from inclement weather while attending to us. They don’t lump us together like this; they decentralise points of verification and even come to us in our domain.”

For Mrs Felicia Omoyinbo, 75, a 1999 retiree from Military Hospital in Ibadan, life after retirement has been cruel and brutish, like in the Hobbesian State of Nature. Although she had been paid her gratuity, 11 years after she was put out to the pasture by the Federal Government, she has not been paid her pension.

“I served this country for 33 years and 11 years after I retired, my pension is not forthcoming; no farthing. I have been surviving on the grace of God. It is a shame that after so many years of hard work for this country, I still labour as a maidservant as well as a washerwoman to make ends meet,” the pensioner, who spoke with teary eyes, lamented.

Amid sobs and dabbing of her wet face, she appealed to the Federal Government to lessen the plight of the senior citizens of the country. She said she had spent all she had on transportation.

“I submitted all the necessary documents since October 12 and as I speak, I have not been attended to by the officials. We have seen that it is only those who bribe the officials that are cleared. Let government pay us one or two year’s pension and save us from this frequent tragedy among us.

“We know there is government in this country, at least elections are held every four years and people are sworn in. What we have not had for a long time in this country is a compassionate government. We don’t know who to turn to for help, but we know that God is watching,” said Joseph Ojo, a 67-year-old federal retiree.

Out of 9,000 to be covered in the verification exercise, about 7, 000 pensioners had completed the verification process. The exercise has also been extended by two weeks as requested by the pensioners.

What the senior citizens are also calling for is the decentralisation of the verification as the concentration of all the federal pensioners from the defunct Western Region in Ibadan is considered cumbersome.

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