Directors flee as Oyo uncovers N2.6bn pension scam

Oyo State Government says it has uncovered a pension fraud in its Local Government Service Pensions Board totalling N2.6bn. Chairman of the board, who is also Head of the Local Government Service Commission, Chief Lasisi Ayanjoko, said interim investigative report on the account of the board between September 2010 and March 2011, revealed the fraud.

“Ten civil servants were involved in the scam,” he said. But he did not reveal the names of the indicted suspects because of ongoing investigations.

Ayankojo said eight of the alleged perpetrators of the fraud were being detained by the police, adding that the two others had absconded.

He said, “Upon the receipt of the report of on the account, the board met Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who ordered that the board should get to the roots of the scam immediately.

“The board discovered this fraud after complaints by local government workers and retirees who claimed that the government had not paid their pensions.
“When we received the complaints, we set up a committee to look into the issue, but in the process we found out that monies were indeed collected by civil servant intermediaries working in the commission and never remitted to the pensioners.”

Ayankojo said the total amount of the money involved in the scam was collected through cheques made out in the names of the affected civil servants, rather than being paid into their accounts.
Ayankojo said the two suspects who had absconded were the  then Executive Secretary and Director, Finance and Administration of the board.

He alleged that between September, 2010 and November 2010, the duo withdrew the sum of N680.4m meant for pensioners from the local government staff account.
He added that they also allegedly withdrew the sum of N1.3bn from the teachers’ account.
Ayankojo explained that the wanted officers, alongside seven other top civil servants of the board also  collected the sum of N173.8m from the pensioners’ accounts between September 2010 and March 2011.