A pension racket that costs Kaduna State government N1.3 billion annually has been uncovered.
The development is one of the highlights on the verification of pensioners in the state.
The report confirmed that 2,484 ghost pensioners were identified and removed from the pension payroll.
Another set of 1,404 were classified as probable ghost pensioners because while they managed to get verified, they curiously failed to pick their pension cheques.
A statement from Samuel Aruwan, spokesman to the Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, said that the state executive council had ordered investigations to identify the person(s) that had been collecting the pensions of the ghost pensioners.
The statement said, “In July 2015, the total pension payroll from the state and local governments stood at 18,265. It cost the state government N543, 771,967.43 monthly to pay the pensioners.
“But at the end of the biometric verification exercise, only 15,781 pensioners were verified on the payroll. As many as 2,484 supposed pensioners did not show up at all. Of 15,781 pensioners that were verified, 1,404 pensioners did not collect their cheques, and they are being treated as probable ghosts.
“The Kaduna State Executive Council has ordered further investigations into the precise identities of the syndicate behind the pension scam. The council welcomed the fact that the verification of the pension payroll will now enable the state to save N1.3 billion every year.”
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