'Govt loses N28b to ghost pensioners'
THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) met in Abuja yesterday and ratified the anticipatory approval earlier granted by President Goodluck Jonathan to Intels (Nig) Limited for the start of phase four of the Onne Ports Complex, which would cost $370,481,720.42 or N59,277,075,267.2.
Also, at the cabinet meeting presided by Vice President Namadi Sambo, Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, disclosed that Nigeria has recovered from a recent drop in electricity generation to cross the 4,000 megawatts (MW) mark following the repairs effected on damaged power facilities, which starved power plants in the country of gas supply.
In another development, the House of Representatives investigations into alleged corruption in the management of pension funds in the office of the Head of Service has revealed that the Federal Government was losing N28 billion to ghost pensioners yearly.
This came to light yesterday at the National Assembly when the Head of Service of the Federation, Ibrahim Sali, informed the House Committee on Pension Matters that over 71,135 ghost pensioners were discovered during a special exercise carried out as a result of the committee's insistence on an overhaul of the pension system in the office of the Head of Service.
The committee's probe was necessitated by an alleged N5 billion scam involving some directors of pensions in the office of the Head of Service.
Meanwhile, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Lamido Sanusi, has appealed to the Senate to consider the request to increase the contribution of the Federal Government to the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to N500 billion.
Sanusi, who made the plea at an interactive session with the Senate Committee on Banking, Currency and Insurance, lamented that the bill forwarded to the lawmakers, which sought to increase the amount, was thrown out by the House of Representatives.
On the reforms recently put through the banking sector, the CBN governor said they were done to protect depositors, stressing that a cardinal point of his mandate as the nation's chief banker was to protect bank customers.
Briefing State House Correspondents after the one-hour cabinet meeting, Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said Intels had proved to be a good partner and ally of the Federal Government because it invested in the port when other investors pulled out and commended the firm for handling the Onne Port well.
Maku said the new phase was needed to provide increased capacity for shipments in the oil and gas sector.
The Guardian