Adamawa uncovers 881 ghost pensioners in December
The Adamawa state government says it uncovered 881 ghost pensioners on its payroll in December 2019.
Permanent Secretary of the state’s pension board, Joab Sahma, disclosed this in Yola in an interview on Tuesday. He said that the ghost pensioners were detected out of 2, 243 pensioners in the December payroll.
“The board set up a verification team to screen a total of 2, 243 pensioners who happen to be in the December 2019 payroll. After the intensive screening, a total of 881 pensioners did not show up till today, which we assumed they are ghost or deceased.
“And about N13.5 million was saved to the government coffers,” Sahma said.
He noted that the last December pension screening prompted government to start the verification of all pensioners across the state, stating that the measure is to enable the state government get genuine records of all pensioners and help it control its expenditure.
According to the permanent secretary, no fewer than 8, 000 pensioners are going to be screened and verified within two weeks.
He assured that the final screening result would be made public before February 20.
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Sahma however, noted that over the years the monthly pension payment in the state has remained high, adding that “many pensioners had died but still their names are maintained in the pay roll.
“With the introduction of the mandatory screening, government is trying to make sure only genuine pensioners are captured and allowed to enjoy their monthly pension allowances.”
