Multi-trillion Naira Audit query: House C’ttee probes PTAD

By Tom Okpe

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has instituted a high-powered technical ad-hoc committee to forensically audit the various sums appropriated annually to the Agency, following multiple queries raised by office of the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) against Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) since its inception in 2013.

Chairman of the Committee, Rep Busayo Oluwole Oke announced the decision of the Committee during its hearing on the multiple queries with management team of the Agency in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Committee lamented that despite trillions of Naira released to the Agency as yearly appropriation, pensioners were still crying about non-payment of their entitlements across the states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

The Adhoc committee to be chaired by the Vice Chairman of Public Accounts Committee, Rep Saa’d Abdulkadir was charged to take into account, utilisation of the agency’s capital and recurrent releases, ensuring conformity with financial regulations.

Oke said: “This is pathetic, on what basis you justify non or late payment to our teeming fathers and mothers who had spent the better part of their productive years serving the government in various capacities, we cannot allow this ugly development to continue, the ad-hoc committee will have to look in to activities of the Agency and come up with something that will guide the Committee to carry out its assignment.”

The Committee also demanded for a comprehensive list of beneficiaries under the agency’s pension scheme as well as evidences of direct remittance on monthly basis to enable it verify complaints of non-payments of the pension.

The PAC Chairman also instructed the committee clerk to write the CBN Governor requesting PTAD’s bank statements over the years and a similar one to the Accountant General of the Federation AGF for copies of letters, releases for pension payment on monthly basis.

PTAD took over functions of the various pension departments of the Public Service and is now responsible for payment to existing retirees of the Federal Government up to June 2007, thus exiting the private sector-led contributory pension scheme.

Leader of PTAD team, who is also, the Director Civil Service Pension in the Agency, Mr. Sulayman Shellong, in her s testimony under oath admitted that for the financial year ending December 2020, the agency got a budgetary allocation of N124 billion out of which N119.2 billion was released and N127.9 billion was expended on pension payment and arrears to beneficiaries.

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He said the balance was moped up and paid into consolidated revenue account at the end of the financial year, denying any infraction on part of the agency in area of pension to beneficiaries under its scheme.

Oke however, mandated the Committee’s in-house Technical Team to do a thorough perusal of PTAD’s audited reports that originated the queries from the Auditor-Genaral of the Federation AuGF and submit an interim report which will form basis of the next line of action on the Agency.