SEARCH CONTINUES FOR THE MISSING N24BN POLICE PENSION FUNDS

In a season of disappearing-or unremitted-public money, the recent disclosure that 24 billion naira of police pension fund could not be found only adds to a climate of unrestrained impunity that is threatening to undermine public confidence in institutions of government.

The Director General of Pension Transitional Arrangement Department (PTAD), Nellie Mayshak, told the House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee that there was an undocumented 24 billion naira ‘Service Wide Votes’ released for the Police Pension Fund. Mayshak said that on taking office to which she was only recently posted, she could not trace evidence of the existence of the money, though she was aware that it was released to the Fund back in 2010.

Apparently stunned by the revelation, the Committee asked the Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the Accountant-General of the Federation, Jonah Otunla; Auditor General of the Federation, Mr Samuel Ukura, and the Director General of the Budget Office, Bright Okogwu, to appear before it to provide further explanations. Officials of First Bank Plc, where Mayshak said the money was lodged, were also asked to come forward with details of any transaction involving the money.

The Internal Auditor of the Pension office, Adeyemo Julius Adebolu, who was in office at the time, confirmed that the amount was actually received for the 2010 payment of pensioners. At the time, he said he advised the office to lodge the money in a First Bank account. After that, he said he was kept in the dark about the movement or disbursements of the money for which a consulting firm was contracted. Such activity was the statutory responsibility of the Police Pension Office staff, he noted.

Committee Chairman Solomon Adeola Olamilekan, reviewing the submissions, concluded that the Service Wide Vote was nothing but “a slush account that is used to settle the boys”.

But in a statement by a spokesperson, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala dismissed claims that the money was missing. What happened, the statement added, was that she had told the Senate Joint Committee on Pensions Administration at a public hearing that she ordered the account to be frozen to prevent fraud. If that were the case, how come such a far-reaching step would be taken and the administrators of the Fund would not be aware of it to the extent of raising the alarm, until a new head took office four years later? The apparent absence of any documented correspondence between the minister’s office and the Police Pension Fund office is astonishing. It is imperative to unravel what transpired and what transactions with the money have taken place in the last four years.

However, the minister’s reaction is consistent with a pattern that has emerged from the period that it became public that N500 billion of SURE-P money was missing; she said it was not. The same with the continuing disagreement over how to characterise the fact that some 20 billion dollars of proceeds from crude oil sales is not reflected in the accounts of the federation. Is it missing; unremitted; or simply has been stolen?

In the case of the pension fund, there still is no movement about what to do with the hundreds of thousands of pensioners that the Fund is supposed to provide succour to. If the Fund is frozen, why was that fact not made public since 2010? What steps have been taken to prevent the fraud that Mrs Ngozi-Iweala said she detected so that the money can safely be disbursed to beneficiaries?

There certainly is a notable absence of concern on the part of public officers on the distress that the act of withholding pension money causes. That in itself is offensive, and anyone involved ought to be called to order and reprimanded.

The growing suspicion that the police pension fund may also have been prey to the web of corruption in the country does the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan no credit.

The legislators looking into the matter need not accept the assurance of government officials that everything is alright thank you. The whereabouts of the 24 billion naira must be firmly established and retrieved so that it can be deployed to its original purpose without further delay. If there are fraudulent activities regarding disbursements from it, these should be referred to the appropriate anti-graft agencies to deal with.