Adamawa uncovers 881 ghost pensioners in one month

The Adamawa State Government says it uncovered 881 ghost pensioners on its payroll in December 2019.
Joab Sahma, the Permanent Secretary of the board, disclosed this in Yola in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday.
He said the ghost pensioners were detected out of 2,243  pensioners in the December payroll.
Sahma said: “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 noted that the last December pension screening  prompted government to start the verification of all pensioners across the state.
He said the measure was to enable government get genuine record of the 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 known public before February 20.
Sahma however noted that over the years the monthly pension payment in the state had  remained high.
He said: “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.”