The Controller General of the Nigerian Prison Service (NPS), Ja’afaru Ahmed, yesterday refuted reports accusing him of hijacking salaries of officers.
Ahmed described the allegation as mischievous and untrue.
A statement issued in Abuja by the NPS spokesman, Francis Enobore, and made available to newsmen, said: “The attention of the Nigerian Prisons Authorities has been drawn to a publication in one of the daily newspapers captioned ‘Prison officers accuse CG of hijacking salaries’. It was alleged that over 2,000 staff have their salaries split into two with half paid into a ‘secret’ account allegedly owned by the CG in a micro finance bank, presumably Prisons Micro Finance Bank (PMFB).
“We feel deeply restrained to respond to this spurious allegation because the medium used for the publication is seen as a reputable platform for credible information dissemination. It is, however, curious that no care was taken to carry out basic investigation into the accusation before publication, thus making the allegation puerile and laughable.
“For the record, the PMFB is an independent business outfit of the Prisons Multipurpose Cooperative Society (PRISCO) with its governing board and under the supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Company (NDIC).
“Secondly, it is well known that personnel salaries are paid directly from the CBN through the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) to beneficiaries’ accounts, and staff members, including the CG, are at liberty to domicile their pay point in any bank of their choice.
“Thirdly and most amazing is the fact that no prisons staff member has his salary domiciled in PMFB anywhere in the country, therefore, none receives salary through the bank. The question then is at what point does the CG or indeed any third party have contact with personnel salary?”