The Director-General of Pension Transitional Arrangement Department, Nellie Mayshak, dazed members of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts when she declared that there was no record on the whereabouts of N24 billion released to the Police Pension Fund from the service wide vote in 2010.
Mayshak appeared before the committee on Tuesday to explain how the office spent the N24 billion received through the Budget Office.
Piqued by the revelation, the Committee consequently summoned the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the Accountant General of the Federation, Jonah Otunla; Auditor-General of the Federation, Samuel Ukura; and the Director General Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogwu, to appear before it.
The committee directed the DG, Budget Office to come with a memo showing the request for the missing N24 billion.
Also, the committee requested First Bank to make necessary documents available showing the details of transactions like the amount deposited and how much was disbursed.
The pension boss, who said she was new in the office added: “We have no evidence, we have no record.
“It just looks bad on our part.
“We rather tell you the truth or make it up.”
However, the Internal Auditor of the Pension Office, Adeyemo Julius Adebolu, who was around when the N24 billion was released, confirmed that the Pension Office actually received the money.
Adebolu told the committee that he advised the pension office to lodge the money in a First Bank account.
He however said he was kept in the dark when it was being disbursed.
Adebolu also disclosed that rather than allowing the staff of the pension office to disburse the fund, a consulting firm was contracted.
According to him, the auditing of the money in question was done without him, adding that he only came into the picture when some of the pensioners, after receiving their money, complained of being shortchanged by the consulting firm.
Speaking, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Solomon Adeola Olamilekan, expressed surprise at the revelation.
Olamilekan assured Nigerians that the committee would unravel the truth.
He said: “I am taken aback because what you are telling us is that service wide vote is a slush account.
“It is an account that is used to settle the boys.”
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