Fresh N197 Billion Pension Fraud Uncovers

The chairman of the committee, Senator Aloysius Akpan Etok (PDP, Akwa Ibom North-West), disclosed this in Abuja yesterday at a public hearing, saying the fraud was perpetrated from 2007 to 2012.
Etok, who said that was why the chairman of the Pension Task Force Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, was summoned, frowned at his (Maina's) absence at the hea-ring yesterday.
The committee had, after an investigation into the alleged mismanagement of pension funds, stated in its report submitted to the Senate on June 20 that top government officials in charge of the funds stole N273.9 billion between 2005 and 2011.
But Etok said that based on the records obtained from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, his committee discovered that fresh N197billion pension fund was diverted from 2007 to 2012.
Giving the details of the looted fund, the co-chairman of the committee, Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya (ANPP, Kano South), said of the N131bn released from the Accountant-General office for police pension within a five-year period, only N88bn was paid, leaving a balance of N44bn; while of the N317bn released for military pension, only N292bn was spent leaving a balance of N25bn.
According to Gaya, of the N85illion released as pension for Customs, Immigration and Prisons Officers (CIPO), only N52billion was disbursed, leaving a balance of N25billion; while of the N34billion released for State Department, only N9billion was spent, leaving a balance of N25billion.
He added that of the N199billion released for the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, only N124billion was disbursed, leaving a balance of N75billion.

Source;allafrica.com