No Salary For Maina Since March 2013 – Adeosun, AGF Idris
BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, on Thursday debunked claims that the embattled former Chairman, Pension Reform Task Force, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina still had his name on the Federal Government’s payroll and enjoyed monthly salary after his disengagement from service.
She said records available in the ministry indicate that Maina has not been receiving any salary from government coffers and there is no trace of any such payment to him following his sacked in 2013
Appearing before the House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee investigating Maina’s disappearance, re-appearance, re-instatement and promotion by the Federal Civil Service Commission in Abuja, Mrs Adeosun said having scrutinised all existing salary payment records, such claims cannot be substantiated anywhere.
According to her, there should be no the controversy over the issue because, “We have looked very well and we have no biometrics of Maina, so there is no way he could have received salaries.”
“We used two platforms in the payment of salaries – the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
“We have checked our records and we have no record or evidence from the two platforms that salary was paid to Maina since March 2013. We have no biometric data of Maina and he is not a staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance or its agencies”, the Minister said.
Also speaking at the ad-hoc Committee’s sitting, the Accountant-General of the Federation, (AGF) Mr Ahmed Idris, said in his submission that Maina’s last salary payment was recorded in February 2013.
Reinforcing the position of the Minister of Finance that Maina was removed from the Federal Government’s payroll in March 2013, AGF Idris said; “From our records, Maina last received salary from the Federal Government in February 2013. From March 2013, Maina was removed from the Government’s payroll.”
Idris told the lawmakers that with his name removed from the payroll, “I don’t know where he was receiving the salary. If there was any payment of salary to Maina, there should be payslips and an account the payments were made; so, let whoever made the claim tender them to support the claim.”
The appearance by Finance Minister Adeosun and Accountant-General Idris at the public hearing was occasioned by the submission made by Maina’s Counsel, Mr Muhammadu Kuta before the Committee on November 23, 2017.
In his statement to the Committee’s members, the Counsel claimed that the Federal Government paid his client monthly salary up to October 2017.
He also informed the Committee that Maina was still treating official files even in hiding while also handling important assignments on behalf of the Federal Government as late as the of October.
