Former Head of Service, Stephen
Oronsaye has exonerated himself from pension
fraud stemming from the activities of the
defunct Presidential Task Force on Pension
Reforms, headed by Abdulrasheed Maina.
Orosanye
But in a swift reaction, the Nigerian Union of
Pensioners, NUP, said Oronsaye actually
midwifed the idea.
Both parties spoke at the ongoing public
hearing of the House of Representatives
Adhoc Committee investigating the activities
of the presidential task force on pensions
reforms from 2010 to the time of its
dissolution and any other successor agency.
Testifying before the committee chaired by
Ananyo Nnebe, who represents Awka South
federal constituency of Anambra State in the
House, Oronsaye, however, said that during his
tenure as the Head of the Service of the
Federation, he set up a committee that carried
out a comprehensive verification on the
number of federal pensioners.
According to him, the exercise discovered a
number of ghost pensioners, which eventually
reduced the monthly expenditure of N1.5
billion to N882 million.
But contrary to Oronsaye’s claim of not being
privy to the establishment of Maina’s task
force, National President of NUP, Mr. Abel Akin
Afolayan, in his presentation, said Oronsaye
conceived the idea, adding that the committee
also shortchanged pensioners.