The former Chairman of the
Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, has accused the
David Mark-led 7th Senate of aiding pension thieves.
Maina’s accusation was contained
in a letter which leaked on Friday, written to the Senate on June 19, 2015 and
obtained by Punch.
In an interview with an unnamed
TV station earlier in the week, Maina said he has documents that would expose
the real pension thieves, adding that his life was at risk.
Maina alleged in the letter that
over N3 trilion hidden had yet to be recouped from 97 pension offices before he
fled the country.
The law firm representing Maina,
Messrs Mamman Nadir & Co., on 36 Ali Akilu Road, Kaduna, confirmed the
authenticity of the leaked letter to the newsapaper.
The letter, referenced PRTT /PEN
/NASS /SEN /16 / VOL1 / 05, was directed through Senator Nneji Achonu’s (Imo
North Senatorial Zone ) office to the Senate President.
The memo was entitled, “Pension
reform task team — Appeal for review of investigation by the Senate Joint
Committee on Establishment and Public Service and States and Local Government
Administration , 2011 – 2013.”
The letter read in part, “We,
members of the Pensions Reform Task Team, wish to use this medium to apologise
for our little late response to reaching back to you.
“We had to put the issues
together and source for appurtenant materials. We appreciate your
understanding, sir.
“As a refresher, the PRTT was
inaugurated on June 10, 2010, by the immediate past administration of Dr.
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, with a clear mandate to restructure the Head of Service
Pension Office, Police Pension Office, among others.
“We did our utmost best with
precision and national interests as our guiding principles.
“The PRTT took off effectively by
January 2011. We used financial intelligence skills to achieve groundbreaking
achievements in our assignment.
“N256bn is still stolen monthly.
As it is, there is a leakage of N256bn monthly from the current IPPIS, which
needs to be blocked urgently.
“We are also aware of some
government hidden accounts which need to be mopped up.
“We can be used to engage any
department of government in sanitising the financial workflow to avoid loose
ends that remain susceptible to leakages.
“Based on the revelations of
massive/monumental fraud and outright stealing of pension funds, which was
brought to public attention by the PRTT, the 7 th National Assembly by
resolution dated November 2, 2011, mandated its Committee on Establishment and
Public Service, State and Local Government Administration, to conduct a
comprehensive investigation into the management and administration of Pension
funds in Nigeria.
“There were general expectations
that the various dimensions of irregularities associated with the management of
pension funds in Nigeria would come to an end as a consequence of the
investigations being conducted by the Senate Joint Committee.”
The ex-pension boss maintained
that while the Senate haunted the task team, the same body favoured the
“pension thieves,” adding that the Senate Joint Committee ended up creating
more problems than solutions to the endemic corruption and fraud prevailing in
the system.
He said that before leaving
Nigeria following threat to his life, “the PRTT had worked so hard that pension
payments stabilised.”
Maina noted that the biometric
system adopted by the team exposed 73,000 ghost pensioners in the office of the
Head of Service alone.
“Some pensioners got a backlog of
about 30 years paid into their accounts. All payments were ordered under the
signature of the Head of Service monthly.”
According to him, the ICPC
conducted an investigation into the matter but regretted that “till date, they
have yet to commence the prosecution.”
“Today, it (pension ) is worse
with the Police Pension Office, where millions are taken out of pension funds
daily. We have pieces of evidence to substantiate this.
“As we write to you, Abdulrasheed
A. Maina has been dismissed from the Civil Service for being absent for three
days, while his life was under threat following a gunshot attack on his person
in front of the Head of Civil Service Office, where his office was located in
February, 2013.
“Attached are copies of letters
from the Nigeria Police Force. ANNEXURE 3 (a ) and (b).”
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CAN THE PRESIDENT PLEASE GIVE MAINA A SECOND CHANCE TO VOMIT THE BEANS HE WAS PREVENTED FROM REVEALING BY THE DAVID MARK- LED NASS?
ReplyDeleteNigeria is full of crap no one knows who is saying the truth, if not the hot chase they gave Maina, would this come out? The truth mush surly be revealed as event unfolding
ReplyDelete