Ex-Civil Service Director In Trouble For Being In Possession Of Over $16m
LAGOS OCTOBER 7TH (NEWSRANGERS)-The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has called for a concerted action by all stakeholders in ensuring an efficient, effective and fraud-free pension system in Nigeria.
The agency said urgent reform was needed to deliver an efficient, effective and sustainable pension administration system in the country, adding that it had probed and prosecuted pension frauds involving N157bn from 2016 to 2020.
Speaking during a two-day sensitisation programme on the theme, ‘Eradication of Pension fraud in Nigeria’, in Abuja on Tuesday, In his opening address, the Chairman of the Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, vowed that the anti-graft agency would bring those who embezzled pension funds to justice.
Bawa said, a significant chunk of corruption cases the Commission encountered while investigating workplace crime is inexorably linked to the desperate efforts of the worker to escape the pitiable conditions he sees of today’s retirees.
He disclosed that the Commission is currently investigating an unnamed former Director of Nigeria’s Civil Service, who is allegedly in possession of $16 million belonging to the Federal Government.
Bawa said, the EFCC as the coordinating agency for the enforcement of all economic and financial crimes laws, is conversant with the rot in the pension sector and was determined to tackle the forces against efficient and corrupt-free pension administration in the country.
He said: “We have investigated and documented hundreds of billions of Naira lost to fraud in the pension industry.
“We worry about the quality of regulation, the fidelity of pension managers and the inefficiency in the management of pension assets which have grave consequences for the national economy, not to talk of the perception of Nigeria as a country where anything criminal is possible.”
On his part, the EFCC Director of Operations, Abdulkarim Chukkol, while presenting a paper titled, “Case study: Analysis of Fraud in Pension Administration in Nigeria, the EFCC Experience”, highlighted the gaps in the existing pension arrangements frequently exploited by criminal elements in public and private sectors.
He noted that the country had lost several billions of naira in the process.
Chukkol said, “In the last 10 years or so, Nigeria has been awash with pension news. Although it is a global problem, Nigeria has taken the centre stage in the last 10 years.
“In 2016, because of the growing number of petitions that we are having, EFCC now created a unit called the Pension Investigation Team. From 2010 to 2016, we received over 21 petitions all over involving N111bn. These are as alleged.
“In 2017, we received 44 cases of N16bn; in 2018, N12bn; in 2019, N2.15bn. By then, because of the efforts of the EFCC, it began to reduce. In total, from 2016 to 2020, the EFCC investigated cases allegedly to the tune of N157 bn.”
In his keynote address, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said the Federal Government is determined to eradicate pension fraud, even as some other speakers at the event pledged their support for the EFCC’s anti pension fraud drive.
Some retirees at the summit demanded contributory pension schemes from State governments.
The summit is targeted to set the tone for urgent industry-wide reforms needed to deliver an efficient and sustainable pension administration in Nigeria.
Thewill
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Posted by News Rangers
on Oct 7 2021. Filed under National.
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