Civil Servants, Pensioners Defraud Govt with BVN

Akwa Ibom Government on Monday said 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, said this while inaugurating an eight-man BVN Verification Committee to address those anomalies in Uyo.

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

He added that BVN was one of the mechanisms deployed to checkmate activities of “ghost workers” and pensioners, particularly in the public service.

He explained that each individual was entitled to one BVN, irrespective of the number of accounts one has.

He said “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.”

‎The commissioner stressed the need for public servants to take ownership of the payroll system to ensure it was not opened to fraud and leakages.

Okon charged the Committee to see the assignment as a clarion call to the service of the state.

The BVN Verification Committee is headed by Mrs Eme-ete Imuk, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance,.

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.

The Committee has one month to complete the authentication exercise and also make recommendations to the state government.