Emeka OMEIHE
Perhaps the aphorism, facts are sacred but comments free, instructs that emerging claims on pension scam in Imo State should not escape the rigours of thorough inquiry.
Though the state government has had a running battle with pensioners over the nonpayment of pensions culminating in public demonstrations by the senior citizens, the matter appeared to have taken a new dimension last week.
This was sequel to the unveiling of eight names of pensioners Governor Hope Uzodinma alleged to be responsible for pension fraud receipts of N330 million annually.
Before now, the governor had rationalized extant challenges with the payment of pensions on ongoing verification to exorcise fictitious names from the list. But this excuse did not go down well with pensioners.
They argue that immediate past administration of Emeka Ihedioha completed a similar exercise a few months back and commenced regular payment before Uzodinma assumed the mantle of leadership.
They would rather have the new administration work with the verification documents generated during the last exercise to save them the hardship associated with delayed payments.
A new verification was seen as avoidable duplication; a subterfuge to deny pensioners their entitlements. But the government claimed it could not work with that verification exercise because it did not receive any handover document from the last regime.
Apparently to justify this, the governor had claimed in his 100 days broadcast that his regime recovered N2 billion from ghost names padded in the civil service system and pensions bill.
At a different occasion, he had claimed that eight people were defrauding the state government N330 million in pension fraud annually with a threat to publish their names.
He made good the threat in a meeting with labour leaders ostensibly to underscore the point that his administration was not merely shouting hoarse on the matter.
The governor further told his audience that findings showed that over 1,000 pensioners who retired in 1976 are still receiving pensions.
Additionally, a retired judge was said to be earning N300, 000 pension above what is due to him while a late SSG to the government was still being paid years after his death.
If it is true that eight people have been pocketing N330 million annually in fraudulent pension receipts and over 1000 others who retired in 1976 are still receiving pensions, then the rot in the state’s pension system is quite monumental.
Then also, we would be drawn to the temptation to commend the state government for seemingly getting at the root of the bloated pensions bill. The question would also arise as to why the last verification exercise did not stumble at such a huge fraud?
But signals emerging since the list was domiciled in public domain do not give cause for comfort. Some of those listed, have come public to dissociate themselves from the figures credited to them.
One of them, Ajokubi Herbert Ahanotu who was credited with N65, 685,497 as his annual fraudulent pension receipts, took to Facebook with details of his home town, local government and Grade level 15 step 9 in which he retired in the states’ school system.
He also published his current pension verification slip dated Tuesday, September 10, 2019 and bank statements of account linked to his BVN to drive home the fact that he did not receive any payment beyond that officially due to him.
Yet, another disclaimer trending in the social media came from Canice Obsisi who was credited with alleged receipt of N41, 524, 399.60 as annul pension.
He said he retired from the Secondary Education Management Board in 2013 at grade level 16, step 9 and the annual pension communicated to him by the Head of Service was N1, 524,399, 64 which translates to a monthly pension of N127, 033.3.
His gratuity as contained in the same letter was N5, 685, 596.67. He also averred that since he started receiving pension, he had never got any amount beyond his entitlement even as his due gratuity has yet to be paid since 2013 he retired.
These are startling disclaimers that cast credibility slur on the figures bandied by the government. Since the government took the bold step of going public with the allegations, the onus is on them to respond to the issues raised by the two pensioners.
They should demonstrate with facts and figures how these monies were paid to the two senior citizens and over what time frame. All these detail are required to clear the thick cloud of doubt surrounding their claims.
But, that is not all. Former executive chairman, Imo State Pension Commission, Chime Aliliele has also provided insights that further contradict the claims by the state government.
Ironically also, these seem to corroborate claims by the two retirees. The main thrust of Aliliele’s submission was that no pensioner earned up to N1 million a month under the Ihedioha administration.
According to him, four out of the eight names published by the government are not verified pensioners. The total entitlements of the remaining four verified pensioners “including three names that were not ascertained amounts to a mere N5, 086,219.20 as against the N330 million claimed by the state government”.
He also said the claim that 1000 pensioners who retired in 1976 were still receiving pensions is false. Rather, what they have in their list are 14 pensioners who retired in 1977 with verified BVN, bank accounts and phone numbers which can be crosschecked unless any one of them died in the last six months.
But more seriously, he touched on the crux of the dispute when he disclosed that the verified pension payroll is domiciled in the server in the pension office at the accountant-general’s office and also hosted on Cloud accessible from any corner of the globe.
Details of other officers he personally handed over computer servers and laptops with similar information including the state chairman, Imo State wing of Nigerian Union of Pensioners were also furnished.
The fate of the verified pension payroll is very fundamental to this discussion. It comes handy not only in untying the puzzle arising from claims by the government on the N330 million alleged pension fraud, but also in determining the propriety of another verification exercise.
The Uzodinma regime had severally trumpeted claims that it did not receive handover note from the Ihedioha administration.
That claim has been the justification for the current verification exercise. It had also served as alibi for some failings on the part of the government including the inability to pay regular pensions and salaries.
But we have been availed unassailable evidence that authentic data on the verified payroll is at the disposal of the state government and can be accessed from any corner of the globe.
There is every reason to believe this. Those who did the verification are still much around and have told us where it is domiciled.
Why the government continues to live in self denial on this matter, is at the root of the controversy thrown up by alleged pension fraud discovery.
What seemed to have emerged is that the government failed to avail itself of that vital document for inexplicable reasons.
Because they failed to heed the dictates of what Charles Lindblom called ‘incremental change’ in public policy, they may have stumbled on rusty records that were expunged during the last verification exercise.
That much is evident from the cases of the two retirees, one of who published his current verification slip which bore no semblance with the details published by the government.
Is it possible that Ajokubi would have continued to be paid more than the amount reflected in his last October verification slip? It is doubtful.
The issue is not whether there was fraud in the pension system. That is not in dispute. Even the Ihedioha regime admitted saving N200 million monthly after the verification exercise.
The current diatribe would have been averted had the Uzodinma regime availed itself of the findings of the last verification exercise.
Having failed to do that, it is not surprising that some of the issues being thrown up are out of sync with the findings of the last verification exercise.
They must now go the entire hog to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they are neither on a voyage to deceive nor invent puerile excuses to cover their track.
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