•We’ll arrest culprit, says Commissioner
“I duly resigned since August 2009, but my salary is still being paid and collected till date. I was denied my entitlements till date. Illegal salary account opened in my name by an unidentified person,” says victim
When Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, said that there was high level fraud in the wage bill emanating from the state’s education ministry months ago, many thought he was merely crying wolf and only playing to the gallery so as to delay payment of salaries and emoluments of workers in that sector.
Only recently, a whistle blower exposed how scholarship funds are fraudulently misappropriated by top government officials by using voucher with fictitious names and huge amounts which ends up in pockets of some persons.
The case of Maxwell Tenumah tells the story of how some of these frauds are perpetrated.
He was employed in June 2000 with employment number 21288 and posted to Erejuwa Grammar School, Ode-Itsekiri, Warri South Council.
After serving the state for nine years, he decided to re-direct his career to other sphere of life and therefore duly resigned his appointment with his employer. Before his resignation, he taught at Ugborikoko Junior Secondary School 111, Warri.
He directed his letter of resignation dated May 12, 2009 to the Executive Chairman, Post Primary Education Board (PPEB), Asaba through the Permanent Secretary, PPEB Zonal Office, Warri through the Principal of Essi College Junior Secondary School, Warri, where he was serving.
The resignation letter entitled “Letter of Withdrawal of Service” stated clearly that he was withdrawaing of his service was to “enable me pursue some other private engagements” and thanked the Board for the opportunity given him to work for the state.
Haven done that, little did he realised that he was day dreaming as some unscrupulous elements in the education authority system capitalised on his notice of service withdrawal to continue to draw his salary.
Said the victim in a letter to one of the security agencies in Warri dated October 30, 2012 and entitled “Illegal reactivation of my resignation and deprivation of my entitlements with Delta State Post Primary Education Board, Asaba.
“Some months after my salary was stopped, and it was time for me to process my entitlement from the state’s Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) Social Fund and the transfer of my Pension Contribution, I was refused payment from the aforementioned bodies.”
According to him, as a result of the refusal, he went to Asaba and was told that his file was missing. When he visited Asaba again in July 2012 in pursuant of his entitlement, he was told that “his name is active and still in the service to date at Ugborikoko Senior Secondary School 111 with a salary point at a Micro-finance bank (name withheld), with account number 0230105713”.
Now, the questions which are now begging for answers are, who transferred his services to this school? Was the principal of the school not aware that a ghost teacher exists in his school and is regularly collecting pay slip? Is the bursar not aware that the teacher he pays every month is not physically present at the school?
Curiously, if we may ask who transferred him to Ugborikoko Senior Secondary School again after he has duly resigned? Where are the transfer papers? And signed by whom?
Who opened the micro finance bank account on his behalf and who has been signing his column with the school bursar and principal who are supposed to cross check the vouchers with the accountant monthly all these years?
Certainly, answers to these salient questions would no doubt go a long way to revealing the intricate and complex network of fraudulent practices involving very powerful forces in the system.
Further investigation revealed that similar acts are rampant in many of the schools in the state in spite of government’s effort to eliminate it.
Saturday Independent findings further revealed that most principals are ignorant of the pay-point of teachers under their supervision because of the e-payment system where teachers get their salary only through designated banks.
When Saturday Independent visited the PPEB in Warri for further enquiriies, those uncomfortable with our findings resorted to threat and molestation of our reporter.
At a point, our correspondent was told “try your best and see whether anything tangible would come out of the matter” even when a pay slip of the said teacher for the month of July, issued on July 11 2012 and August, issued on August 9 2012 was shown to them.
The fraud is allegedly being perpetrated by the officials of the schools management board in collaboration with bursars in the affected schools.
At the Ugborikoko Junior Secondary School 111, Saturday Independent gathered that names of retired and ghost teachers are still on the pay roll.
The school principal, Mr. Charles Okotie, when contacted said the matter should be directed to relevant government agencies in Asaba, the state capital for proper investigation as he was only posted to the school a few months ago.
The bursar of the school, Saturday Independent learnt, has also been transferred to another school.
When the State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Professor Patrick Muoboghare, was contacted, he said he would investigate the matter diligently with a view to unmasking those behind the criminal act. According to him, “when you discover one fraud point, they quickly devise another way out and continue.”
Tenumah’s name is still on the pay roll of Delta State government despite his resignation since 2009 as shown by his October 2013 pay slip issued on October 10 2013 and he keeps receiving PENCOM notices quarterly for up-date on his account.
Source: Daily Independent
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