A defense witness, Ngozika Ihuoma has told the Federal High Court, Abuja, that former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, uncovered monumental fraud when he was the chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team.
Ihuoma, a management consultant, whose firm, Crincad & Cari Nigeria Ltd was contracted by the task team for consultancy service.
Ihuoma, while being led in evidence-in-chief by counsel for Maina, Anayo Adibe told the court that Maina was appointed to chair the team by the President Goodluck Jonathan-led government following his achievement in pensioners biometric capture exercise he conducted at Customs, Immigration, Prison Pension Office in 2010.
He said the last pensioners’ verification exercise conducted in May 2010 under chief Steve Oronsaye as Head of Service (HOS) with EFCC monitoring the exercise through their SERVICOM Unit, revealed monumental fraud.
The witness said the EFCC, as an anti-corruption agency, was part of the task team on an institutional capacity.
He said the biometric capture exercise took place in two trenches; the first was in 36 states and FCT and the second was pensioners in diaspora which in about 6 centres.
Ihuoma said that at the end of the exercise, the team discovered 71, 320 ghost pensioners in government payroll and 73, 000 accounts were opened for ghost pensioners by the various banks in the country.
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He said with the conclusion of the biometric capture and 71, 320 ghost pensioners removed, the Federal Government’s monthly expenses dropped to N1.3 billion from N5 billion and a total of N4.2 billion naira was save starting from January 2011.
According to him, as at March 2011, a task team through the EFCC and ICPC had charged 46 persons and companies to court for their roles in fraud and ghost pensioners involvement.
And after the exercise by Nov. 2011, the payment was N466 million. So about N1.1 billion was being saved after the biometric capture.
Justice Abang adjourned the matter till March 2 for continuation.
Justice Okon Abang had, on Feb. 25, ordered Maina to open his defence in the charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after the prosecution closed its case.
Maina was arraigned on Oct. 25, 2019, by the EFCC alongside his firm, Common Input Property and Investment Ltd, he, however, pleaded not guilty to the 12-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N2 billion.
(Editor : Paul Akhagbemhe)
