FG Uncovers 71,135 Ghost Pensioners

According to NigeriaPlus, "the pension reform tax team has uncovered about 71,135 ghost pensioners after the first phase of its biometric and verification, THE PUNCH learnt on Thursday.
The team was mandated by the Federal Government to restructure and sanitise the system.
Investigations revealed that before the biometric exercise, there were about 141,792 pensioners throughout the country with a total monthly pension of N3.3bn.

Our correspondent learnt that after the first phase, the team came back with a total number of 70,657 genuine pensioners out of the 141,792 pensioners before the commencement of the exercise.
A source said, “These are the findings of the team, realising 71,135 ghost pensioners. With this discovery, the total monthly pension of these genuine pensioners dropped to N790m.”
It was also learnt that there are over 44,320 pensioners throughout the country whose names had been missing and had not been receiving their entitlements.
Among them is a 97-year-old Pa Francis Olajide, who was said to have retired in 1968.
The nonagenarian from Ondo State, who lives in Ikorodu, Lagos, was said to have received only £15 in 1968 when he was retired.
A source said, “After the computation of the 44,320 discovered pensioners, the monthly pensions came to N340m. Thereafter, more people started coming while the team started capturing them.
“About 816 pensioners were captured through the biometric exercise and the total number of pensioners in the country at present stands at 115,658. After the harmonisation of their entitlements in line with the increases in wages and salaries, including minimum wage, their total monthly pension came up to N1.6bn.”
Investigations revealed that government usually spends over N450m monthly in any pensions verification.
The Deputy Director (Press and Public Relations) in the Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Tayo Ajakaiye, declined comment on the discovery, saying only the leader of the team, Mr. Abdurasheed Maina, could speak on the matter.
Several calls and text messages to Maina were not responded to.
Many of them were said to have been retired since 1975 as permanent secretaries.
To ease the difficulties associated with the payment of pensions in the country, pensioners will henceforth be issued with smartcards.
The gesture, sources said, was to save money and make pensioners happy according to global standards."