Kogi State government has debunked allegation that the state’s accountant general engaged the services of a consultant to pay pensioners.
The Accountant General, Mr. Ibrahim Idakwo, who denied the allegation while speaking with journalists in Lokoja yesterday, stated that he had no power to engage a consultant to pay pensioners.
Idakwo said it was the figment of imagination of the executive of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, who believed the accountant general could engage a consultant to pay pensioners, adding that his staffs were paying the pensioners and not consultants.
He said what happened was that the office of the accountant general introduced a new software for payment of pensioners as part of measures to block loopholes and checkmate fraud.
Said he: “What happened was that when we got wind of this software package for payment of pensioners, we forwarded the proposal to Governor Idris Wada, who later approved it.”
Idakwo pointed out that after installation of the software in April, the package detected multiple names, account numbers and over-bloated figures.
He disclosed that when the same process was repeated in May, over N20 million was also discovered again, adding that whenever the there was an over-bloated amount on the payroll, the software would not pay.
The accountant general stated that within two months the state saved over N35m.
