N190BN PENSION FUND SCAM: HOW FRAUD WAS BLOWN OPEN

Abdulrasheed Maina, in the eye of the storm in the looted Pension Funds. 

Over the course of the week, the media has been awash with reports of how Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina, the erstwhile Chairman of the Pension Task Force Team, (PTFT), who was docked for stealing the  pension fund, was smuggled back to the country. It was also widely reported how highly placed political office holders of the present administration have tried to reinstate him and with a promotion.

Following the groundswell of of cries from Nigerians over the impunity that attended this, the President has been forced to direct that he be sacked from the civil service.

In this report, the genesis of how the fraud was hatched and perpetrated will be revealed. Interviews of those who knew what took place will also be included for proper assessment of the enormity of the offence Abdulrasheed Maina was alleged to have committed against the state.

It all began in 2010 when a director of Finance and Accounts in the office of the Head of Service, one Dr. Sani Shaibu Teidi discovered some discrepancies in the pension accounts domiciled at the office of the Head of Service of the Federation. The difference between the reconcilable inflow and outflow was a whopping N35 billion. Apparently shocked by the discovery, Dr. Sani Shaibu was said to have called the attention of his overall boss, Chief Steve Oronsaye to the finding. Oronsaye who was the Head of Service of the Federation, advised that he should draw the attention of the EFCC and the NSA to the matter. 

A letter  of invitation to the two security agencies were said to have been initiated by Dr. Sani Shaibu as the Director of Finance  in whose office the alleged fraud was discovered and it was signed by  same on behalf of the HOS. The EFCC failed to respond but the NSA rose to the occasion.

The anti-graft agency was said to have failed to respond to a letter of invitation sent by Dr. Sani Shaibu as Director of Finance in whose office the alleged fraud was discovered. 

A committee was set up by the head of service, Chief Steve Oronsaye to look into the alleged missing fund with membership drawn from his office (OHOS) and NSA. The NSA was represented by two of its staffs namely, Markus T., an assistant commissioner of Police as at then, and Ndubusi J, a Deputy Superintendent of Police. However, for wooly reasons the external members of the committee, i.e. the NSA were not given a conducive atmosphere to work as neither an office was given to them nor were the books fully opened to ensure eagle scrutiny of the culpable accounts.

Despite the handicaps, some arrests were made, some monies in the region of N100m recovered and returned to government coffers. This led to the dismissal of some key bank officials in Skye, Intercontinental (now Access) and Oceanic (now Ecobank) banks.

Undoubtedly, this was like a tip of the iceberg compared with the amount involved. Investigation indicates that it was only the small flies in the deal that were roasted. The key players could not be touched because of their relationship with the powers that be. 

With the enthusiasm of the security agency muffled, what was left of the committee to unravel the riddle of the sleaze was a tattered zeal that could be likened to the lame duck. And so was the fraud technically drowned as the committee could not dare to write a sincere report especially in area that would indict the leadership who from all available records were culpable.

A couple of months after the illusory exercise, Dr. Sanni Shaibu, the man who blew the whistle on the scam was transferred from the office of the head of service to the Petroleum ministry. On the surface this may look like the routine civil service administrative practice in which staff could be moved from one ministry to the other especially the specialized professionals like the accountants and the lawyers. However what was curious about the transfer was that it came barely a couple of months after he squeal on the scam, coupled with the fact that he was asked to hand over the department to a deputy director, one Mrs. Phina Chidi who by civil service practice as it relates to accounting rules and order was not competent to oversee any account in excess of N1billion. She was being asked to take over theN13.7 billion pension account warehoused in the office of the head of service of the federation. 

See Appendix A for a breakdown of the over N13.7 billion that was handed over to Mrs. Phina Chidi and the various banks/accounts where the monies were lodged. (source; Senate Committee Report on Pension Administration).

Dr. Sanni Shaibu drew the attention of the Head of Service, Chief Steve Oronsaye to this anomaly but it was rebuffed and the big boss insisted that he preferred to work with Mrs. Phina Chidi notwithstanding the irregularity. And so the financial onslaught on the sweat of the nation's senior citizens continued unabated to the extent that many of them were owed salaries in arrears of months and years, they died in droves as a result of poverty and the” vampires” were relentless in their assault.

On several occasions was the nation regaled with the ugly spectacle of the pensioners laying siege on public buildings in the federal capital to demand for their pension which was an embarrassment to the nation. Apparently befuddled by the hues and cries of the society concerning the plights of the pensioners which was assuming a preposterously embarrassing dimension, the office of the head of service crafted another device all in the name of correcting the wrongs in the payment of pension.

Chief Steve Oronsaye as the head of service set up what he called a presidential task force to manage the Police Pension fund with a view to correcting the petulant incongruity. The committee headed by Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina, a deputy Director (who is hiding in Ghana contrary to information that he is in  the United Arab Emirates) was given a timeline of six months to complete its assignment. 

Unfortunately, what came out of this so called presidential task force was more than the nation had ever seen in public service pillaging. Armed with a parlous approval from the then minister of finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to “sanitize” the police pension which is one of the biggest, Abdulrasheed Maina took the industry nay the nation by storm. He manipulated the system, manipulated the books, and compromised many high- ranking public servants including the legislature for his pecuniary gains. He became the lord of the manor in the pension industry, an untouchable gadfly and a monster that almost consumed those that set him up. Professor Afolabi, a onetime Head of Service of the federation did testify to this.

At the senate committee public hearing on pension matters, several far reaching testimonies were given by various stake holders and piles of documents showing how bank accounts were opened with reckless abandon without recourse to the extant practice of tacit approval of the Accountant general of the federation: How huge sums of money were transferred from one bank to the other overnight and their  whereabouts became a mirage.

For example there was a particular document deposed to by one of the respondents at the public hearing, detailing how a sum of N7.6 billion was transferred from the pension account of the office of the Head of service with the Zenith Bank, Maitama branch, Abuja to Union Bank branch at the federal secretariat, Abuja  and thereafter, the funds were moved out and up till now cannot be traced.

Another document showed how N4.6 billion was also moved from United Bank for Africa, UBA  Usama street, Abuja to open a fictitious account  also in Union Bank, Federal secretariat branch, Abuja from where the funds developed wings. The transfer, according to the document, was authorized by Chief Steve Oronsaye and had as signatories to the account, Mr. Charles Bonet, permanent secretary, OHOS and the Personal Assistant to chief Steve Oronsaye.

Another sum of N1.7 billion meant for the payment of death benefits of deceases families was fraudulently transferred to the over head cost of the office of the head of service and it was paid out. The document specified the accounts domiciled with the GTB Abuja which were used to siphon pension funds. 

 Incidentally, these incidences happened under the watchful eye of Chief Steve Oronsaye as the Head of Service of the federation. Impeccable source indicates that the EFCC under Ibrahim Lamorde was put on notice of this financial sleaze, yet it chose to hear nothing and did nothing except some occasional selective investigations that suited the whims of the commission boss.

See Appendices B, C, D Below:

Another document equally informed that up till now, the Nigerian government has an account with the crown agent of the United Kingdom to the tune of five million pounds and the funds are invested in bonds and equity. 

Ibrahim Magu, the EFCC Chairman, it remains to be seen how much difference his job in the anti-corruption war would make in President Buhari's war against corruption in Nigeria. 

As at the time of this report, Dr. Sanni Shaibu Teidi, the man who blew the lid of the scam was charged to court by the EFCC and has been in and out of prison for almost five years. The EFCC has kept amending the charges against him and he is yet to enter the dock for cross examinations.

Chief Steve Oronsaye was charged to court only five months ago shortly after the Buhari administration came to power. It may be pertinent to ask why it took that long to come up with a charge against him or take him to court. Your guess is as good as mine. Chief Oronsaye who is being charged with fraudulent contract of Biometric equipment left office almost five years ago. 

Abdulrasheed Maina, the alleged kingpin of the scam was never charged to court one day by the EFCC despite the groundswell of evidence against him until just about five months ago like Oronsaye. And even then, the shrewd contriver had escaped to UAE where he is now enjoying his life and daring anyone to catch him if they can. 

Mrs. Phina Chidi was arrested, her house searched and huge sums of money in local and foreign currencies were found. When interrogated, she claimed the money which amounted to a couple of billions belonged to her brother. The brother on his part according to sources  could not  justify how he came about such humongous money  as he was just a small time local importer. The money was impounded and has remained unreceipted up till today.

Mrs. Phina Chidi was charged to court along with some others on some flimsy charges which has enabled her to be living in the United States of America today while still collecting salary as a bonafied Nigerian civil servant.

The following people were charged to court in relation to the fraud  matter :

1. Mohammed Abdul

2. Bello Aliyu Administrative officer

3. Garbalawal  Chief Accountant

4. Mr. Olanipekun Chief Accountant

5. Mr. Ahmed A.K  Deputy Director

All these people are still in service drawing salaries with some of them being promoted while fraud charges against them still linger.