Government being defrauded with BVN by civil servants, pensioners

Media reports reveal that the Akwa Ibom Government on Monday announced that it had uncovered 1,458 cases of Bank Verification Number (BVN) related frauds involving civil servants and pensioners in the public service.

Mr. Akan Okon, commissioner for finance, made the statement while inaugurating an eight-man BVN Verification Committee to address those anomalies in Uyo.

According to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, Okon said the present administration had done a lot to reposition public servant’s payroll system for efficiency and effectiveness.

The Akwa Ibom Commissioner added that the BVN was one of the mechanisms deployed to checkmate activities of “ghost workers” and pensioners, in the public service, explaining that each individual was entitled to one BVN, irrespective of the number of accounts one has.

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“The Akwa Ibom State Government has detected cases where one BVN is tied to more than one person. This is worrisome and it may imply multiple salary and pension collections,” he said.

Okon charged the BVN Verification Committee, headed by Mrs. Eme-ete Imuk, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, to see the assignment as a clarion call to the service of the state.

Other members of the Committee are Mrs. Eno Offiong, the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Head of Service and Mrs. Stella Etukakpan, the Permanent Secretary, Department of Establishment, while Mr Sunday Udioko, the Assistant Director, Computer Centre, Ministry of Finance, would serve as Secretary, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek reports.

The Committee was given one month to complete the authentication exercise and also make recommendations to the state government on how it should proceed.