Date Published: 05/25/11
N3b missing from Kano pensions fund
The sum of ₦3,099,383,704.73 deducted from Kano State government workers’ salary
for the usual contributory pensions scheme is nowhere to be found in the state
government’s accounts, the transition committee constituted by the
governor-elect, Musa Kwankwaso, discovered Monday.
In a statement issued by Jaafar Jaafar, the spokesperson of the Office of the
Kano State Governor-elect, said the amount which should have been remitted to
the Pension Trust Fund, was not remitted despite the fact that it was deducted
from public servants’ salaries.
The transition committee noted that there was no remission of the workers’ pensions to the pension funds from September 2010 to date.
He revealed that the missing amount does not reflect in the cash balance of the
state account.
“Obviously, there is deduction from their salaries but there is no corresponding
remission to the pension fund,” he said.
Mr Jaafar revealed further that the transition committee also discovered that
1,495 pensioners “failed to turn up” shortly after verification and the
subsequent defeat of the ruling All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) at the April 26
gubernatorial election. “This is a clear indication that some unscrupulous government officials created
the ghost pensioners in the state,” he said.
The spokesman noted that the discovery was made from the official documents
obtained from the Pension Trust Fund and the office of the State Accountant
General, Danjuma Garko.
“Shekarau’s government has been beating chest for paying attention to workers’
welfare despite the fact that they are secretly fleecing them. This is a clear
negation to their claims,” he said. Earlier, the same transition committee in
its findings alleged that the outgoing ANPP administration incurred hotel bills
of nearly N4 billion in the past eight years.
Of this amount, the committee said N3 billion had already been paid to three
hotels which operate in the state, while the government still owed them N805
million.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Adviser on Media to governor Shekarau, Sule Yau
Sule has refuted all the findings of the transition committee, saying it was an
attempt to rubbish all the achievements of Mr Shekarau’s government in the last
eight years.
“Everybody knows the intension of the incoming government; they are on a
vengeance mission. The person who is issuing these statements has been
practising journalism in the state; if all these allegations are true why is it
that he has not reported it all this while he was practising? This is simply
contradictory; we are not surprised; we expect even more from them. “You are talking about almost N3 billion they are alleging is missing. This a
huge sum of money and the EFCC is there they have not said anything. It is just
a political vendetta but I can assure you that at the end of the day, the people
of Kano will know the truth no matter how long.”
Courtesy 234Next
|
