The National Association of Nigerian Students, (NANS), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to order an open public investigation into the fraudulent misuse of the pension fund.
NANS made the appeal in a letter to President Mohammadu Buhari, dated November 2, 2017 and signed by its President, Comrade Aruna Kadiri.
A copy was obtained by Saturday INDEPENDENT on Friday.
Kadiri said it was not enough to single out Abdulrasheed Maina, the former Chairman of the Pension Reform Taskforce Team for prosecution, when there were other members who worked with him.
“The Director of Finance of Maina’s led PRTT is now the Director of Pension in Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, while Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde of the EFCC heads the Police Special Fraud unit in Lagos.
“We believed that it is not possible for the Chairman to steal such huge amount without the Finance Director and other team members, if they actually stole public fund.
“Nigerians want to know the whereabouts of the N1.6 trillion recovered and the N5.32bn blocked by Mr. Maina and his team in the Head of Service and Police”.
According to NANS, “The PRTT has members from the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences Related Commission, ICPC, the Department of State Security, DSS, the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, the Nigeria Police Force, the Accountant General of the Federation, the Auditor General of the Federation, the Federal Ministry of Finance etc.
“We, as Nigerians, cannot be clouded by the diversionary method of the cabal to shift our minds from the N1.6 trillion to N2.1 billion.
“We also gathered that, immediately Mr. Maina’s PRTT was disbanded, the then government created Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD.
“PTAD discontinued the ongoing biometric supervised by the PRTT and got approval of N8bn for the same biometric which up till now, is yet to be carried out.
Consequently, Comrade Kadiri added that, “Since the EFCC and ICPC were members of the Maina’s committee, and as well implicated in the looted treasury, an independent investigative panel be set up to properly investigate the allegations and counter allegations.
“An investigative panel with live coverage which will boost the anti-corruption war of your administration, and will be highly appreciated by Nigerians,” Kadiri wrote.
“For the sake of justice, equity and fairness, we also advise and recommend that your Excellency immediately re-absorb Maina pending the outcome of the public investigation and if found wanting be properly prosecuted.”
NANS stated that the decision of the President to disengage Maina from service was as a result of misleading report presented to him by those who are supposed to feed him with detailed information from across the country.
“The decision was hasty and generally not of the interest of Nigerians.
“As a body of intellectualism, we observed that there is a gang-up against Mr. Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, who was the chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team, PRTT under the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration,” NANS declared.
SOURCE: Independent Newspaper