I discovered 70,000 ghost pensioners, says Oronsaye
Former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, claimed yesterday that he discovered 70, 000 ghost pensioners during his tenure.
He also denied the allegation of embezzling N123 billion pension funds.
The former head of Civil Service said because of the pension reforms he initiated, the government was saving N1billion monthly The nation reports.
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Oronsaye, who made the clarifications in a statement in Abuja, said he was never indicted by the auditor-general of the federation.
He said a media report on his alleged indictment was fictitious and unfounded.
The statement reads: “For the records, the major gap identified in the administration of civil service pensions when I came on board in 2009, was the lack of proper records.
“My team and I made far-reaching efforts to address this shortcoming through the physical verification and biometric capture of civilian pensioners across the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who retired from the service before July 1, 2007.
“Through that exercise, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation identified and eliminated no fewer than 70,000 fake/ghost pensioners from the pension payroll.
“To my credit and that of my team, and the relief of pensioners, 34,432 pensioners, who had hitherto never been paid their pension at the time, were enrolled and paid their pension as well as the arrears of their harmonised pension.
“In addition, under my watch, the Federal Government made a monthly saving of about N1billion”
He said contrary to insinuations, his office reported pension fraud to security agency and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“Perhaps if the sponsors of the report were not so lazy, they would have dug out the letters I did to the then National Security Adviser (NSA) on December 10, 2009 and November 8, 2010 drawing the attention of the NSA on both occasions and requesting for investigations into unclaimed pension benefits that were hitherto fraudulently paid into certain bank accounts.
“In like manner, I wrote to the then EFCC Chairman in November 2010 vide a letter, forwarding four spiral-bound documents containing the names of different categories of supposed pensioners and the banks to which the funds were hitherto paid.
“The document was put together by the then Director, Pension Department in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
“In that letter, I drew the attention of the EFCC Chairman to the fact that “prior to the introduction of the integrated e-payment, pension benefits were paid to banks and all the payments were supposedly claimed by the bona fide beneficiaries.
“However, with the introduction of the integrated e-payment system, no one had come forward to claim the pensions that were hitherto paid to the banks for onward payment to the pensioners. I therefore requested the EFCC to cause an investigation to be made into the matter with a view to resolving all the issues and prosecuting all those found culpable”, he said.
Saying he was never indicted by the Auditor-General of the Federation, he added: “In actual fact, I worked closely with the Internal Auditor in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation at the time.
“It was this internal auditor’s report that actually prompted the setting up of the Pension Reform Task Team at the time. This can be verified from the official records.
“As a chartered accountant and having served as Permanent Secretary prior to my appointment as Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, I am fully conversant with the imperatives of accountability and the implications of not applying the rules.”
Oronsaye, who made the clarifications in a statement in Abuja, said he was never indicted by the auditor-general of the federation.
He said a media report on his alleged indictment was fictitious and unfounded.
The statement reads: “For the records, the major gap identified in the administration of civil service pensions when I came on board in 2009, was the lack of proper records.
“My team and I made far-reaching efforts to address this shortcoming through the physical verification and biometric capture of civilian pensioners across the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who retired from the service before July 1, 2007.
“Through that exercise, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation identified and eliminated no fewer than 70,000 fake/ghost pensioners from the pension payroll.
“To my credit and that of my team, and the relief of pensioners, 34,432 pensioners, who had hitherto never been paid their pension at the time, were enrolled and paid their pension as well as the arrears of their harmonised pension.
“In addition, under my watch, the Federal Government made a monthly saving of about N1billion”
He said contrary to insinuations, his office reported pension fraud to security agency and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“Perhaps if the sponsors of the report were not so lazy, they would have dug out the letters I did to the then National Security Adviser (NSA) on December 10, 2009 and November 8, 2010 drawing the attention of the NSA on both occasions and requesting for investigations into unclaimed pension benefits that were hitherto fraudulently paid into certain bank accounts.
“In like manner, I wrote to the then EFCC Chairman in November 2010 vide a letter, forwarding four spiral-bound documents containing the names of different categories of supposed pensioners and the banks to which the funds were hitherto paid.
“The document was put together by the then Director, Pension Department in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
“In that letter, I drew the attention of the EFCC Chairman to the fact that “prior to the introduction of the integrated e-payment, pension benefits were paid to banks and all the payments were supposedly claimed by the bona fide beneficiaries.
“However, with the introduction of the integrated e-payment system, no one had come forward to claim the pensions that were hitherto paid to the banks for onward payment to the pensioners. I therefore requested the EFCC to cause an investigation to be made into the matter with a view to resolving all the issues and prosecuting all those found culpable”, he said.
Saying he was never indicted by the Auditor-General of the Federation, he added: “In actual fact, I worked closely with the Internal Auditor in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation at the time.
“It was this internal auditor’s report that actually prompted the setting up of the Pension Reform Task Team at the time. This can be verified from the official records.
“As a chartered accountant and having served as Permanent Secretary prior to my appointment as Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, I am fully conversant with the imperatives of accountability and the implications of not applying the rules.”
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