Verification begins to remove fakes, dead from military pensions database

By Ronald Mutum The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali on Monday flagged off the 2017 Military Pensions Verification Exercise at the Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja. The exercise, flagged off in Abuja by the Minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Defence, Nuratu Batagarawa, is to take off simultaneous in all the 36 states […]

By Ronald Mutum

The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali on Monday flagged off the 2017 Military Pensions Verification Exercise at the Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja.

The exercise, flagged off in Abuja by the Minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Defence, Nuratu Batagarawa, is to take off simultaneous in all the 36 states of the federation.

She said the Exercise is conducted to re-appraise the effectiveness of military pensions administration with a view to making improvements.

Batagarawa noted that the overall objectives of the Exercise is to block leakages in expenditure of the Federal Government, update of pensioners record and improve the integrity of military pensions database.

She added that it is also aimed at eliminating deceased and fake pensioners from the system.

Earlier, in a welcome address, the acting Chairman Military Pensions Board (MPB), Brigadier General Adekunle Adesope said it is not the intension of any one to suffer pensioners.

He said that is why for the purpose of the Exercise, days have been earmarked for various rank groups, which is one of the strategies adopted to be able to control crowd.

He added that, “It is compulsory for all pensioners to present their retired or discharged ID cards, it is only then that other documents would be verified.”