Pensions task force accuses Senate of unprovoked attacks

Abbdulrasheed-MainaGovt channels N74b recovered loot to 2012 budget   

Rights groups want Upper House panel disbanded

RATHER playing complimentary roles in the Federal Government’s attempt to sanitise the pensions administration, an Executive panel and a Senate committee probing the rot in the system are on the war-path.

Yesterday, the Pensions Reform Task Team, which alleged efforts by the Senate Committee on Establishments of heightened moves to frustrate its work, took its ordeal to the court of public opinion.

According to the panel, the Senate Committee on Establishment, headed by Senator Aloysius Etuk, had said since the task-force started work had resorted to fierce attacks and sentimental harassments of its members.

The task-force however refuted growing speculations that the committee demanded bribe from it.

Information and Media Relations Officer of the task team, Hassan Salihu, said yesterday that the series of side-talks insinuating that the Senate panel demanded N16 million bribe for each member of the committee was untrue.

It was also a thumb-down for the Senate panel from a coalition of civil society organisations, which opposed the committee’s bid to hold closed-door sessions on the probe of the pensions scheme.

The coalition led by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), the Centre for Democracy and Development, (CDD), and Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC), said the option was designed by the Upper House to cover up the mess in the system.

It, therefore, called on the Senate to disband its ad-hoc panel, alleging that the body had shown serious disregard for ethics, bias and lack of integrity.

In a joint statement the three groups issued yesterday and signed by the Executive Director of CISLAC, Malam Auwal Ibrahim Rafsanjani and CDD’s Dr. Jubrin Ibrahim, they urged the Senate President to take immediate steps to redeem the integrity of the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly “which has been badly battered by the activity of the Pensions Reform Committee.”

Salihu said that because the task-force had suffered “fierce attack and sentimental harassment” by the Senate committee, it strongly feels that the Upper House panel would not be fair to it in the ongoing probe.

He, however, said this gives anyone room to conclude that the Senate Committee demanded for bribe from the Abdulrasheed Maina-led body.

“We have documents, newspaper reports and television clips of such sentimental harassment and the task-force views it as a deliberate attempt to tarnish its image and it further buttresses our claim that the Senator Aloysius Etuk-led committee had declared judgment against the task team even while the probe is still on.

However, the Pensions Reform Task Force wants to emphatically state that at no time did the Senate Committee demanded for such bribe,’’ he said.

Salihu also stated that the attacks by the Senate panel might have made Nigerians to think and come up with the insinuations that the team must have refused to bribe the committee.

“In as much as we were cruelly and unfairly treated by the Senate Ad-hoc Committee for doing the right thing for Nigeria, we believe that Nigerians might have critically examined the following events as it unfolded for them to draw this wrong conclusion of bribery offer.

“At the first day of the public hearing on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 in Abuja, the Senate Committee announced the suspension of the Pensions Reform Task Team even before it was heard. Though the House of Representatives swiftly reacted by declaring the illegality of the Senate committee’s order due to the fact that the task team is a creation of the Executive arm of government not the Legislature, and it further indicated that for such a recommendation to be sent to the Executive, it has to pass through both Houses of the National Assembly. Thus, there is no fairness to the Pensions Task Force. It is as if the ultimate intention of the panel (Senate committee) is to tarnish the hard-earned integrity of the task team so as to pave way for the pensions thieves to continue stealing pensioners’ funds,” he said.

Salihu further recalled Maina’s sad experience before the panel.

He said at the hearing session on Wednesday, March 7, 2012, Maina impressively presented how his team traced and cracked down on pensions cartels in the entire country, stopped the stealing of billions monthly by pensions robbers, disallowed further stealing, deleted over 73,000 fake pensioners in just two pension offices, recovered and saved over N151 billion.

He said the Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, attested to the fact that the team had done a good job, adding that N74 billion of the N151 billion had so far been mopped up for utilisation in the 2012 budget.

Salihu lamented that there was no ovation or clapping by any of the members of the Senate committee for Maina “but a member of staff of the Police Pensions Office who lied and presented photocopied papers to embarrass Maina and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Lamorde was blessed by Etuk.”

The panel’s spokesman said the worst came when Maina was declared wanted the following day by the committee.

“Nigerians witnessed through a live broadcast of the public hearing on Thursday, March 7, 2012, where Maina tendered numerous documents as exhibits such as, I-pad, Ghana-Must-Go bags of documents but only for Nigerians to see media reports from a distinguished Senator Mohammed Sale that “Maina did not submit anything,” Salihu stated.

But Rasfajani (CISLAC boss) said the civil society groups had thought that the panel would complement the efforts of the Maina but “we were however shocked that no sooner had the committee started its work, than signs emerged that the high expectations of Nigerians about its potential to contribute to the war against corruption would not materialise. Indeed, the manner in which the committee went about its task of investigation left much to be desired.

“The tendency toward leaving the issues to pursue trivialities became obvious and elements of bias began to manifest, eroding the neutrality and objectivity required for this crucial assignment and calling the integrity of the Legislature to question,” the groups said.

He expressed disappointment with the Senate as represented by the committee, lamenting that rather than identifying itself with patriotic Nigerians committed to eradicating corruption, it had proceeded in a “manner contrary to popular expectation and in disregard for the age-old principles of honour, ethics and integrity.”