Pension Fraud: Borno Saves N400m After Verification

The Borno state government says it has saved up to N400m in the ongoing pension verification exercise in the state. The verification follows a petition over unpaid stipends submitted by 387 pensioners through the Borno State chapter of pensioners union.

Governor Babagana Zulum personally received the petition during a public
hearing organized in March this year, to sort the problem which has lingered since 2016.

The State Head of Service, Barrister Simon Malgwi said in a news conference over the weekend that the government has now adopted a new automatic scheme of migration from salary to pension to address fraud and to make the transition seamless for pensioners.

552 pensioners, including the 387 petitioners who retired between June 2016 to April 2020 have now been enrolled in the new scheme.

The public hearing which was convened to address the complaints of the 387 pensioners ended up uncovering far more serious cases of fraud and other unsavory activities on the part of the pensioners.

The cases bother on deliberate overstay in the service, altering the date of birth or date of the first appointment, while it was also discovered that some civil servants receive both salary and pension.

The new method is meant to address all of this as according to the Head of Service it is already paying off with the government saving up to 400m naira gathered from those not entitled to a pension.