Niger board’ll protect pension funds against thieves – DG

  

The Niger Pension Board has assured state and local government workers in the state of the prudent management of funds accrued from their contributions to the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) reintroduced in June this year after it was suspended six years ago over fraud.

Director General of the state Pension Board, Alhaji Mohammed Usman Tinau, stated this at the weekend in Minna while speaking with journalists.

He said stringent measures had been put in place to protect and prevent the funds from the hands of pension thieves whose activities led to the disappearance of over N5billion during the past administration before it was suspended.

He explained that in order to ensure accountability and prudent management of funds, the board had made it mandatory for the state Ministry of Finance, Pension Funds Administrations and state Universal Basic Education Board to furnish it with particulars of all monthly financial transactions and payments for strict supervision.

According to him, “The board has initiated measures to fence away pension thieves unlike what happened in the past when large funds were moved without the input of the board. This time around, the Pension Funds Administrators and the ministry of finance will have to avail us with details of deductions and other transactions for verification on monthly basis. We do not want the ugly experience of the past to occur again.”

Tanau said 7.5 percent of workers’ salaries will be deducted as from June which he said will be in arrears while the state government will match the it with 19.5 percent as counterpart funding.

He allayed fears in some quarters that the same fate would befall the newly resumed scheme, adding that “although government has repaid more than 90 percent of the missing money to workers, those who were involved in the scam are going to be prosecuted.”

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