How four 'ghost' pensioners (PICTURED) were arrested, paraded in Abuja
Written by Clement Idoko
Monday, August 16, 2010

Four suspected fake pensioners who were arrested in Lagos during the just concluded nationwide biometric verification of pensioners were recently paraded by the police in Abuja, Clement Idoko, reports.

[img]http://odili.net/news/source/2010/aug/16/tribune/images/fake20pensioners[1].jpg[/img]
The suspected fake pensioners




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You may not believe that dead pensioners come from their graves to collect their monthly pension

in Nigeria. This may sound strange and esoteric because when a pensioner dies, he stops automatically from benefiting from the pension. But these "dead men" corne in human form to receive their monthly payments.

Moreover since they are "ghosts", they could not be physically captured by the biometric data machine. This is the story of four fake pensioners who specialised in posing as retirees to collcct pension. They were nabbed by the police when their stratagem failed them during the just concluded biometric enrolment of pensioners by the Federal Government.

The four, three men and a woman, arrested at the Lagos centre in the course of the biometric verification of federal pensioners were paraded by the Nigeria police in Abuja. The verification, which was aimed at generating authentic data of pensioners on the Federal Government's payroll, went alongside hand to hand payment of the June, 2010 pension to retirees.

The suspects included a 60-year-old bricklayer, Habib Kareem and a 50-year-old tailor, Isa Olaloye, who claimed they were recruited by a woman who told them she was going to give them jobs. Others are Lamino Oso 54 and a 35-year-old woman, Aisat Yusuf.

The woman, Aisat Yusuf, confessed to have recruited one of the suspects, Mr. Lamino Oso, to pose as her dead father, in order to be captured biometrically but luck ran out on him, when it was discovered by the verification officials that his picture on the identity card was at variance with that of the late retiree, Mr. Akanbi Yusuf, who died about two years ago. He was at that point apprehended by the police attached to the verification team.

When interrogated, Aisat further revealed that she had been receiving her late father's pension since 2009 after his death to take care of her aged mother.

She added that she had to engage Mr. Lamino Oso, to pose as her late father to be physically captured because she heard that President Goodluck Jonathan was going to pay some huge sum of money to pensioners.

Two of the suspects, Habib Kareem and Isa Olaloye were said to be among the 20 fake retirees allegedly recruited by one Mrs. Modina, popularly known as Iya Sabe, who is now at large and is being trailed by the police.

The Director of Pension in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Karamot Lawal, who briefed newsmen on behalf of the Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, on the development, said the verification officers became suspicious of the two suspects who claimed to be level 14 officers but could not speak English Language.

Besides, their "identity" cards which were displayed to newsmen were newly printed and did not reflect identity cards of retirees of many years as allegedly recorded in their forms. However, Habib and Isa, when interrogated, said the woman, Iya Sabe hoodwinked them that she was going to get them federal appointments. What remains a mystery however, is that they were able to assume names that were captured in the original pension payroll that was taken to the venue by the verification officers.

The Director of Pension, lamented the high level of fraud that had characterised payment of pension in the past, saying the office was faced with a situation where the relatives of dead pensioners continue to draw the pension without the knowledge of the office.

She told journalists that the suspects, including other suspects yet to be brought to Abuja from other states of the federation, would be charged to court to face prosecution, to serve as deterrent to others. Conscious of possible insider connivance, Lawal said investigations were already on and that the Head of Service has made the pension office unattractive.

She disclosed that before the biometric verification exercise, the Federal Government had no accurate database of the pensioners under its payroll. This situation, she explained, among several other complaints like non-payment of pension, short payment, non-enrolment of pensioners who had retired for a long time prompted the head of service, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, to embark on the biometric verification in which the face and finger print of a pensioner is physically captured.

Mrs. Lawal, said with the biometric enrolment, pensioners would be required to go to their banks, once or twice a year where their finger prints would be taken, adding that this is expected to completely eliminate the problem of ghost pensioners and ensure regular payment of pension to all genuine pensioners.

http://odili.net/news/source/2010/aug/16/616.html

Na waooooooooooo things they happenoooooooooooo.