The introduction of the electronic payment system(e-payment) by the Federal Government has started yielding positive results  as more than 100 fake pensioners were uncovered within days of test-running it.

This revelation was made yesterday when the out-going Head of Service of the Federation, Ms. Ama Pepple,  flagged off the electronic pension application system.
Speaking at the event, Pepple said  it was imperative to migrate from the old pension payroll system which is porous to abuses to a modern web-based application with biometric data capture and high level of information system security (Remita).

She said the new system  (Remita) would usher in an improved and credible pension platform with the biometric data entry system, which would help to determine invalid pension accounts and flush out ghost pensioners as the case has shown.

 This came as the Director, Pension Account, Dr. Sani Shaibu, disclosed  that for the first payment period, the new system had been able to identify 1, 800 duplicate pension records with the same account details and had recovered well over N75 million for the Federal Government.

“We have uncovered 1,800 fake pensioners, over that figure of duplicated accounts and about 64,000 invalid bank accounts. I think with this (Pension Application and e-Payment System) , the problem of fake pensioners and duplication of account will be a thing of the past, ” he said.

He advised pensioners with invalid banking information to collect banking information form from Pension Area Offices nearest to them and return same on completion.
 This, he said,  was because only Pensioners with valid banking information and phone numbers will instantly have their accounts credited and receive an alert on their phones notifying them of the amount credited to their various accounts.