Account of N766m shortfall, Reps c’ttee orders Pencom
By Henry Omunu, Abuja
The House of Representatives ad hoc committee probing the activities of the Pension Commission (PenCom) on Thursday ordered the commission to explain how it expended the shortfall of N766 million it deducted from N43 billion in separate transfers made from the commission’s accounts.
Speaking at the ongoing probe of the activities of PenCom, Chairman of the House ad hoc committee, Rep. Elkanem Iboro, informed the commission’s legal team which represented the PenCom management at the hearing to give a detailed account of the shortfall out of an initial N32.3 billion from a N33 billion transfer made by the commission from one account to another.
Rep. Iboro said: “I am demanding this explanation because of the spotlight on the N33 billion transfer in the media of late purportedly paid to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).
“What happened to the outstanding of N766,597,625,00 indicating a shortfall that can’t be located in the statement of account that is with the committee. Also, there’s another N10 billion transfer made from one account to another account with another excess. This phenomenon runs throughout all the accounts that the commission operates.
“This committee will like to know what happened to all these excesses and shortfalls as stated in the statements made available to us by the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
Responding to the queries, PenCom’s legal team demanded to scrutinize all the payments schedules released to the committee, arguing that the commission keeps accurate account of all its financial transactions and as such, there’s no cause for alarm.
Also, at yesterday’s hearing, a member of the ad hoc committee, Rep. Benjamin Wayo, told the PenCom team that the Act establishing the commission was wrongly applied by the commission’s management.
“You interpreted the Act wrongly because the secretary to the government of the federation can’t alone act by giving you instructions to employ or make payments when there’s no board in place,” the lawmaker stated.
Before the committee adjourned sine die, the chairman asked the PenCom team to make available vital documents such as payments made to all contractors, contracts executed so far and names of such contractors.
