Akwa-Ibom Discovers 1,458 Related Frauds

The Akwa Ibom Government has uncovered 1,458 cases of Bank Verification Number (BVN) related frauds involving civil servants and pensioners in the public service.

The Commissioner for Finance, Mr Akan Okon, stated this on Monday  while inaugurating an eight-man BVN Verification Committee to address those anomalies in Uyo.

Okon who said the BVN was one of the mechanisms deployed to checkmate activities of “ghost workers” and pensioners, particularly in the public service,explained that each individual was entitled to one BVN, irrespective of the number of accounts one has.

“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 said there was 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 which is headed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Mrs Eme-ete Imuk,has one month to complete the authentication exercise and also make recommendations to the state government.