Nicholas Uwerunonye


If reports emanating from the presidency on a secret rapprochement between governors believed to be close to President Mohammadu Buhari and key staff in his kitchen cabinet are anything to go by, then the chairman of the defunct Pension Reforms Task Team, PRTT, Abdulrasheed Maina, may have bagged the job of helping state governors dismantle ghost workers and pension mafias eating deeply into their monthly wage bills and recurrent budgets, Sunday INDEPENDENT reliably gathered over the weekend.

While the deal for the former powerful taskforce henchman on pension scam is case of rehabilitation after a grace to grass fall, the special arrangement appears to be an answer to some of the governors’ challenge of paying the new minimum wage recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Some governors have been loud as to how unrealistic such wage benchmark is for their states. David Umahi, Ebonyi State governor, was on record slating the passage of the new wage law and explaining governors’ dilemma on the matter. According to him, federal government would have to expand states’ revenue bases by tinkering with federal allocations formula if states must meet the new minimum wage bill.

But the newspaper was reliably told that like Umahi, most of his colleagues who have spoken on the matter are only being economical with the real reason why they can’t pay salaries. “They are at the mercies of ghost workers’ syndicates and pension mafias,” explained a presidency source.

The informer acts as liaison between the Presidency and a group of governors across party lines considered to be very close to Buhari. According to the presidency source, Maina has been asked to help some state governors clean up their workers payrolls. While some of the governors have accepted this arrangement, they are however wary of making it public given the public uproar and political liability it might cause them.

The former PRTT boss is expected to bring forensic accounting and latest technology in biometrics into cleaning up the state civil service payrolls. This detail believes the informer, perhaps explains a recent report in a national daily that the former PRTT chair may have been taken off security agency watch lists following alleged plans by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, plans to arrest and arraign him on an alleged N2.1 billion fraud.

Maina, it was learnt, had been visiting the country more regularly than before from his foreign base as his name was said to have been taken off the watch list by security agencies at the nation’s international airports.

In 2015, Maina, was declared wanted by EFCC and subsequently placed on the International Police, Interpol, wanted list after news emanated that he was in the country hobnobbing with senior officials. The former pension thief catcher was reportedly working with the Department of State Services, DSS, from where he returned to the civil service after being absent without leave since 2014. News of this sparked public uproar at the time with Senate instituting a probe on the matter.

One year after a Senate ad hoc committee, set up to investigate his controversial reinstatement and promotion in the federal civil service, submitted its report, the Senate has yet to consider its findings.

Security sources, however, aver that the former PRTT chairman was being protected from arrest by top officials in the Presidency.

The newspaper’s sources however insist that this new assignment with states civil services on salaries and pension may well account for why Maina was taken off the watch lists. Even more, the sources claim, there had always been plan for a synergy between the defunct PRTT and state civil services across the country even by the last administration. “This is because whether pension thief or ghost workers syndicate, they all operate in one ecosystem. Maina appears to know the terrain very well and the governors are in need of reprieve if they must meet their new salary obligations,” the source stated.

Even more, the syndicates are highly connected because substantial part of their money is allegedly used to sponsor political office holders and lobby National Assembly members who then put pressure on state chief executives to look the other way on their activities. Maina learnt this first hand.

In a previous encounter with the newspaper correspondent, the former PRTT boss said that his travails started after busting a certain Dr Sani Taidi Shuaibu, a former director of pension in the civil service, one of those implicated by PRTT over N4.3 billion laundered and believed to be money siphoned from civil service pension. Uzoma Atang, retired civil servant is also facing charges in court bordering on fraud, and a Toyin Ishola, a former assistant chief accountant, Police Pension Office, PPO, Lagos.

The former PRTT chairman alleges that the trio influenced former Senate committee chairman on Establishment, Aloysius Etuk, to come after him. Ironically, there is currently a petition against Etuk at the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, over allegation of receiving bribe money from Shuaibu to implicate Maina. “These thieves are powerful and have extensive reach, both at the national level and states,” Maina had said in a previous encounter.

The situation in states is believed to be worse given that institutions that should ensure transparency are weaker. Going by this, insider sources in some states, especially in the North, say that ghost workers problem and pension theft may hobble governors from paying the new salary benchmark.

As further gathered, some of the governors are already on board with the plan especially given that initial analysis of the situation shows that wage bills could be pruned down to about 35 percent for salaries alone. “When the cleanup being proposed by this plan is further taken to pension, we could save up to as much as 45 to 50 percent of the state budget,” explained a perm sec from one of the North East states to the newspaper.

Some instances in some states might suffice in illustrating the menace these syndicates pose to state governors and governance at the second tier level. Though not one of states that asked for Maina’s help, Kogi scenario aptly demonstrates why it has no option but to check activities of ghost workers in the state. Its recent screening exercise uprooted close to 5, 000 ghost workers. But state government believes that it has barely scratched the surface of the rot on its payroll.

The development has pitched Yahaya Bello against the civil servants, as he is yet to unravel the syndicate after spending huge sums of money on hiring consultants to dismantle the said syndicate.

For instance, the newspaper exclusively gathered that over 400 salary cheques are still yet to be collected by civil servants out of fear of being identified. Also, there are other mind bugging details about the scope of sleaze in the civil service in the state.

There was the case of three salaries traced to a single Biometric Verification Number, BVN, owned by an Assistant Superintendant of Police, ASP, currently serving in Yobe State. “Why will a police man be paid by Kogi State,” wondered a top director in the state. There was also the instance of a director in the state’s ministry of Education said to own a school in Okene. Strangely, salaries of the staff from the private school managed to be smuggled into Kogi State civil service. Even more mind bugging, there was the case of 33 salaries being traced to a single person through bank alerts. “The cases are many and we hardly know where to start our probe from,” added the director.

It is also on record that wards and in some cases wives of some of the past administrators of local government have been on the payroll of the state government for quite some years now, though the number has been reduced with the outcome of the consultants.

Another case is that of Bauchi. The state trended in the news recently after the state governor stated that it had 1,161 ghost workers it recently weeded out of its civil service saving close to N1 billion. But insiders have since clarified that the situation is pathetically worse. According to a certain Musa Azare, a public commentator believed to have an inside knowledge of the state payroll system, the state governor, M.A Abubakar merely quoted an inaccurate report submitted to him in July 2015. “That report grossly understated the figure. According to him, that figure is the aggregate number of workers “absent during verification”, and not the total number of ghost workers on the payroll of Bauchi State government.

Apart from these, there were other suspicious cases not mentioned. They include 841 staff who were due for retirement but hadn’t proceeded; 193 over-aged employees; 57 under- aged employees; 40 were employees with duplicate bank account numbers; 49 were staff without bank account numbers at all; 65 were pensioner/civil servants; and 247 were staff on one year retirement calendar. There were still some other category which brought the total of suspicious/ghost workers to 2,653, with a total salary bill of N214, 352,060.78.

A more realistic figure of total workforce in Bauchi is 88,394 claimed Azare. But the state governor has been heard stating that he has a work force of 105, 000, a matter which has pitted him against his successor after May 29, Bala Mohammed who defeated him at the last poll. Sources close to the incoming governor say that the civil service may have been swelled by ghost workers.

CaptainMarvel:
Lols. This is derisory. in this tech age?? a few group of techies and programmers can create a system that would completely curb this.

The former PRTT boss is expected to bring forensic accounting and latest technology in biometrics into cleaning up the state civil service payrolls. This detail believes the informer, perhaps explains a recent report in a national daily that the former PRTT chair may have been taken off security agency watch lists following alleged plans by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, plans to arrest and arraign him on an alleged N2.1 billion fraud.

Security sources, however, aver that the former PRTT chairman was being protected from arrest by top officials in the Presidency.

As further gathered, some of the governors are already on board with the plan especially given that initial analysis of the situation shows that wage bills could be pruned down to about 35 percent for salaries alone. “When the cleanup being proposed by this plan is further taken to pension, we could save up to as much as 45 to 50 percent of the state budget,” explained a perm sec from one of the North East states to the newspaper.

CaptainMarvel:
Lols. This is derisory. in this tech age?? a few group of techies and programmers can create a system that would completely curb this.

omohayek:

And who says anyone with the power to do something wants the problem to be solved? So many of Nigeria's problems have nothing to do with a lack of knowledge about the right thing to do, but with the lack of will to do so, especially if taking action will get in the way of personal enrichment or handing out "juicy" appointments and pretend "jobs" to relatives and followers.

Blue3k:


Please these supposed syndicates cant exist without funneling money to the top. The issue is crazy if 50% of your budget goes into random bank accounts.


Ps: download text to speech app to read article for you. I recommend @voice aloud on android.

EagleScribes:


Do you have any speech to text app or software?

EagleScribes:


Do you have any speech to text app or software?