THE NIGERIAN PENSION BAND OF THIEVES

THE BARBARIC LOOTING OF THE FUND FOR RETIRED CITIZENS IN NIGERIA

By Dr. Ope Banwo, The Ombudsman

 Just when Nigerians were still coming to grips with the devastating revelations concerning the audacious activities of a fearsome Cabal in the oil sector, who have systematically looted oil subsidy revenues of this great country, Nigerians were further pushed to the edge of helpless despair when the Pension Funds scam revelations began to unfold.

This sordid chapter in our national evolution unfolded with the incredible revelation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] that various huge sums of money have been stolen by some accused persons in the pensions office with the active connivance of some banks. We were first told that sums ranging from N180m, N500M and $2million were discovered hidden in the accounts of various officers of the fund including that of a 29 year old lady who was merely a clerk in the Pensions Office.

Before many Nigerians could even understand what the Pension Fund Scheme does, and how the activity of pension fund commission affects them, the revelations of massive fraud climbed stratospheric dimensions as more startling revelations continued to emerge in the unfolding drama. Thus far we have been bombarded with allegations of various sums being stolen from N2 billion, TO 4.6 billion by another to N152 billion, and N212 billion. As of the last count and depending on which paper you were reading, over N300 billion have been stolen by the Pension Band of Thieves.

As many Nigerians finally began to catch up with the enormity of the rape of their collective retirement benefits, the denials from the accused persons started coming fast and furious. The man accused of having N2 billion naira cash in his apartment has issued a public notice denying it and challenging EFCC to show the money to the public. Another junior staff caught with hundreds of millions of naira in her account has claimed that the money was not stolen money but the profits from selling pure water on the street. While I surely agree that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, I am nevertheless breathlessly waiting to see how much pure water someone will have to sell in 9 months to make over a N100,000,000 PROFIT without having a major factory.

While we all wait for the courts to determine which of the accused persons are actually guilty as charged, everyone agrees that the scale of fraud in the federal pension scheme is just too massive, shocking and downright scandalous. We all agree that this is just another vicious kick to the psyche of Nigerians, who have had to endure some incredible stories of fraud on a level bigger than any fictional story that can be concocted by even the most adventurous Nollywood writer.

Anyway we look at this shameful development, to quote Gbenga Kayode, one of the writers that broke this story, “This is simply paradoxical and unacceptable in a nation that parades a frustrated army of unemployed but qualified youths, decayed social infrastructure and prostrate small and medium scale enterprise (SME) sector.

While many Nigerians can hardly imagine keeping even N1 million cash in their bedrooms in these uncertain times, we are being told that the Pension funds Band Of Thieves, through some Nigerian commercial banks, were able to effect illegal withdrawals for billions of naira, using multiple cheques in fictitious names for fictitious accounts.

This colossal pension scam has raised some very serious questions that Nigerians need urgent answers to, and which may help us better understand how this dastardly act was committed in so short a time when we have a Pension Commission, Office of the Accountant General, the EFCC and a Government of Transformation who were tasked in ensuring this stuff does not happen.

A PARADE OF THE ACTORS AND THE SUSPECTS

PENSION OFFICIALS - Of course the leading actors in this award winning tragi-comedy are the officers of the Pension Fund departments who have, with impunity so far, used their offices to transfer mammoth amounts to themselves, their friends, companies and even pure water businesses. 

BANKS - As the story continued to unfold, the names of several banks, specifically Uba And First Bank have been occurring with regularity that makes it difficult for us to ignore. We have heard of incredible stories of Pension Funds finding its ways into personal accounts, real estate companies, dormant account of dead petrol stations among others, with apparent connivance of the account officers, and some banking top dogs. We are being told, through some of the confessional statements of some of the accused persons, that many bank accounts were opened with the collusion of bank officials who often collect a percentage of the funds. To be fair, some of the mentioned banks, particularly UBA has since issued a public statement claiming that all accounts opened with it were opened with due process and permission of the Accountant General of the federation as required by law. However, the press release raises more questions than answers, and in time the police and the public will get to the bottom of it. How the Pension Dept can have over 100 accounts in the same bank reveals a lot about what we are not being told!

EFCC - Another question begging for answers is the role of the EFCC, the supposed frauds watchdog, specifically tasked with making sure frauds like this do not happen with impunity in this environment. While the some of the banks have claimed they reported some suspicious cases to EFCC without response, some of the pension fraudsters have also pointed some fingers at the EFCC as being actively involved in the fraud scheme. The EFCC definitely has a lot of questions to answer to the people of Nigeria. Through to its culture of sensationalizing events without providing actual proof, they accused someone of having over N1Billion Naira in his house and yet incredibly they did not show us the picture of this massive amount of money that must have been bigger that the size of 2 rooms! Now the accused has challenged them to show the money or provide proof they found any such money in his house!

All of a sudden, the hunted may end up being the hunted in this case due to the pronouncements of EFCC that they are yet to show any evidence of.

PENSION COMMISSION - As we read the daily revelations, the Office of the Pension Commission also appears to have either been neck deep in this rape of our retired citizens, criminally negligent or totally incompetent to deal with the activities of the pension officers. It is really sad to read what the director General of PenCom has to say by way of explanation before the senate committee. According to him  “… the Commission is unable to exert supervisory control over the pension offices as they have little regard for the Commission’s supervisory role over them in clear violation of sections 30 to 38 of the PRA (Pension Reform Act) 2004.” How come we are hearing this lame excuse after about over N800 BILLION of our money has disappeared into people’s wardrobes, real estate companies, pure water companies and accounts of dormant filling stations?

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT - Not to be left out is the federal government that is supposed to oversee the implementation of the Pension Scheme. It boggles my mind that this level of fraud could have happened so quickly in such a short period of time without the knowledge or connivance of the Federal Govt officials overseeing the scheme. The new Pension Act was only enacted in 2004 and we were told at the time that this new law will bring an end to the suffering of our retirees and usher in probity and accountability. 5 years later, we are down Billions of Naira and the Govt expects us not to hold them accountable for this fiasco.

In the face of this national disgrace, it is time the Government, through its pension regulatory authorities in conjunction with anti-corruption agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC) starts doing something practical to ensure that these cowboys of the pension funds are brought to book and quickly too. The President has promised us a season of transformation and it is time he starts delivering in this area.

To really breathe a clean breath of fresh air into the toxic atmosphere of pension scheme, the CBN also needs to sit up and apply weighty sanctions against any bank account managers or branch managers of commercial banks allegedly involved in those illegal transactions. We all know this level of barbaric looting where accounts are opened without due process and where people are withdrawing millions and billions of naira on a daily basis on an account for paying pensioneers could not happen without the banks participating. Afterall, how big can a pension salary check be?

It is time that this Nigerian government stands up and clean out the rot in its system or face the inevitability of the citizens taking the law into their own hands. We need to clean this up and we need to do it fast before this matter is swept under the rug, as fraud in another sector sweeps off our collective feet

That is the Ombudsman Memo for today

Barrister (Dr) Ope Banwo, The Ombudsman, is an Attorney, Public Commentator, Business Consultant, Author, and Motivational Speaker. He is the initiator of the Market Ombudsman and the Founder of the syndicated Ombudsman Show on television networks. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Email: opebanwo@aol.com Tel: 07066482753