Imported User:
The Senate finally adopted holistically reports of its adhoc committee that probed the management and administration of pension funds in Nigeria.
The Senate joint committee investigating the pension fund on Thursday disclosed that the balance of N58.715billion was still missing at the office of the Head of Service of the federation.
The co-chairman of the Committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya, added that “Within six years, the Head of the Civil Service received a total of N216billion as pensions. It only spent N154billion, remaining balance of N58.7billion.
“We made efforts to get records of the balance of N58.7billion throughout the period of the investigation and we did not get any.”
Gaya made this revelation during the consideration of the report that about N1.76billion earmarked for the settlement of the families of dead pensioners was diverted by officials Head of Service to recurrent expenditure leaving the families without the benefits.
President of the Senate however said of the report that it was one the executive should not ignore or fail to implement.
“This is not only a monumental fraud, but a national embarrassment. This is one report that the government should not ignore, it should be implemented.”
According to him “no amount of recommendation would be enough to punish the perpetrators of those involved, yet assured that there would be punishment while they live and would end up in hell after death”.
Specifically, Mark directed that a warrant of arrest should be issued to Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, Chairman Pension Task Team who was reported by the committee to have refused to appear before the committee to defend himself on allegations of mismanagement of pensions funds at the Customs, Immigrations and Prisons Pensions Office.
The Spokesman of the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe told newsmen later that the Senate had done its constitutional duty of exposing the fraud in the system, the it was left for the executive to implement the report of the Senate.
