The House of Representatives has renewed its call on President Goodluck Jonathan to expand the scope of the Pension Reform Task Team, (PRTFT) and authorise it to extend its dragnet to all Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) so as to uncover more pension fund scams if any.
The House committee on Pensions, which contradicted the recent call for the arrest and prosecution of Chairman, Pension Reform Task Team, Alhaji Abdulrasheed? Maina, by the senate, reiterated its earlier position that, the task team should be the only vehicle for the Federal Government’s pension reform agenda and advocated a wider schedule for it to cover all MDAs and parastatals.
The Committee’s position was contained in a memo to the presidency with reference no. NASS/7HR/CT.68/11 and signed by its Chairman, Hon. Ibrahim Bawa Kamba,
In it, the Committee requested the Presidency to allow the Task Force “to liaise with the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) to search, expose and recover all MDAs and parastatals pension fund accounts that might be trapped, hidden, forgotten and lying dormant in all commercial banks in Nigeria.”
The lawmakers further said that expanding the scope of the Task Force would finally unravel more pension fund mismanagement that has left most Nigerian pensioners frustrated to the point of death.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Task Team on Pension Reform, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina has raised alarm that his life was under threat and alleged that the Pension cabal was after him even as the security around him has been beefed up.
The threat of possible kidnap had reportedly compelled the State Security Services to increase the number of security details around Maina in compliance with the government’s directive. It was leant that the government took the decision to provide maximum security for Maina in response to repeated signals about plans to kidnap him after several attempts made to disband his Committee on Pension Reform had failed.
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