The Minister of Finance and Coordinating
Minister for the Economy, Dr.(Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday
disclosed that the Federal Government recovered N110 billion last year
by blocking leakages from the nation's tax system.
Speaking at the Pensioners' Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) stakeholders forum in Abuja, the Minister said the government is aiming at raising it to N160 billion this year. According her, with the introduction of Single Treasury Account, it has made it difficult for people to take away monies through fraudulent means.
"We will now be migrating gradually to the recurrent budget so that we can have an overview of the account," she said, noting that the next phase would be the parastatals and the whole system of government.
Furthermore, she said, "we are like halfway through. But any other place where there are leakages, we will be taking them one by one."
The Minister also regretted that the pension system has been dogged by corruption over the years and, as a result, over N32 billion was estimated to have been carted away and over 14 individuals are currently standing trial.
The Minister stated that the biometric verification exercise for pensioners also led to the discovery of over 15,000 ghost pensioners and so, over N2.1 billion has been saved.
The government, she said, per cent pledged to complete payment of 33 per cent arrears of pensioners as soon as the current financial challenge is tackled.
According to her, the 2004 Pension Act made provision for the creation of PTAD but said some forces that were benefiting from the old system made it difficult.
"We really need to give God the glory and to Mr. President who found in him the zeal to go ahead to create a new department and ordered a biometric verification so that we can have a true and correct picture of our pensioners," the Minister noted.
Earlier, the Director General, PTAD, Mrs. Nellie Mayshak, also said that the efficiency gains have enabled the government to include an additional 1,354 pensioners from the three liquidated steel rolling mills of Osogbo, Katsina and Jos who had presidential approval to be pay-rolled since 2010 but had not been included by previous pension managers.
"We have also seen similar improvements in the administration of police pensions. PTAD has been cleaning up police pension database and, through the ongoing verification process, has been able to weed out ghost pensioners and add on genuine pensioners who had been due for pensions after attaining pensionable age but were neglected by the erstwhile police pension office.
"This has led to improved monthly payment to our police pensioners from only about 30 per cent of fund released by the Federal Government being paid out to police pensioners in 2011 to over 80 per cent of the fund. In addition, in December 2014, PTAD successfully implemented 33 per cent increment and paid all arrears for 2014," she said.
Speaking at the Pensioners' Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) stakeholders forum in Abuja, the Minister said the government is aiming at raising it to N160 billion this year. According her, with the introduction of Single Treasury Account, it has made it difficult for people to take away monies through fraudulent means.
"We will now be migrating gradually to the recurrent budget so that we can have an overview of the account," she said, noting that the next phase would be the parastatals and the whole system of government.
Furthermore, she said, "we are like halfway through. But any other place where there are leakages, we will be taking them one by one."
The Minister also regretted that the pension system has been dogged by corruption over the years and, as a result, over N32 billion was estimated to have been carted away and over 14 individuals are currently standing trial.
The Minister stated that the biometric verification exercise for pensioners also led to the discovery of over 15,000 ghost pensioners and so, over N2.1 billion has been saved.
The government, she said, per cent pledged to complete payment of 33 per cent arrears of pensioners as soon as the current financial challenge is tackled.
According to her, the 2004 Pension Act made provision for the creation of PTAD but said some forces that were benefiting from the old system made it difficult.
"We really need to give God the glory and to Mr. President who found in him the zeal to go ahead to create a new department and ordered a biometric verification so that we can have a true and correct picture of our pensioners," the Minister noted.
Earlier, the Director General, PTAD, Mrs. Nellie Mayshak, also said that the efficiency gains have enabled the government to include an additional 1,354 pensioners from the three liquidated steel rolling mills of Osogbo, Katsina and Jos who had presidential approval to be pay-rolled since 2010 but had not been included by previous pension managers.
"We have also seen similar improvements in the administration of police pensions. PTAD has been cleaning up police pension database and, through the ongoing verification process, has been able to weed out ghost pensioners and add on genuine pensioners who had been due for pensions after attaining pensionable age but were neglected by the erstwhile police pension office.
"This has led to improved monthly payment to our police pensioners from only about 30 per cent of fund released by the Federal Government being paid out to police pensioners in 2011 to over 80 per cent of the fund. In addition, in December 2014, PTAD successfully implemented 33 per cent increment and paid all arrears for 2014," she said.
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