Who are the 29 ‘ghost’ security officials who received N4 billion in the presidency over the years?
Who cleared the N4 billion for payment?
Were the National Security Advisers (NSAs) during the administrations of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan aware of this fraud?
These are some of the questions on the lips of senior officials in the presidency as the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major-General Babagana Monguno, uncovered the fraud after a special audit ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It is mind-boggling that this kind of fraud can happen in the presidency. This is a serious matter and the president is not taking it lightly at all”, said a presidency source.
It was discovered that the 29 ghost workers had been drawing salaries and emoluments totalling N4 billion before the discovery.
Said the source: “When the NSA took over in 2015, he told a few of us close to him that he had a feeling something was wrong with the payment system. To him, the salary was a bit on the high side. He told the president and the Commander-in-Chief ordered him to carry out an audit. It was the audit that led to this discovery.
“The verification showed that about 29 ghost security personnel have been on the pay roll in the Presidency over the years.”
The source said due to the audit, the security budget for the presidency has been brought down from about N6.5 billion to N2 billion.
“It was a move commended and approved by the President. A particular security agency delayed their auditing and verification for six months before releasing its personnel for the exercise few days ago.
“Interestingly, under the N6.5 fraudulent budget regime, junior security personnel in the Presidency received N18,000 per month, while senior personnel were entitled to N35,000 only, with no form of welfare packages.
“Currently, under the supervision of Monguno, with a realistic budget of N2 billion being effectively deployed to the general benefit and welfare of men and women saddled with the responsibility of the safety and security in the Presidency, the junior security personnel, who were paid N18,000 under the N6.5 billion budget regime, now enjoy a minimum of N80,000, while the senior personnel, who received N35,000 then, now collect a minimum of N150,000, including other benefits.”
The source added that under the new security budget regime, a middle level cadre had been introduced into the security apparatus, with those in this category receiving a minimum of N100,000 monthly as allowance, aside other benefits.
The source said the upward review of allowances was to ensure professional hierarchy and discipline, adding that “the aim is to boost the morale of all the security personnel in the discharge of their statutory duties”.
Aside from the increment in monthly allowances of staff, another quarterly allowance has also been introduced by the NSA.
It is known as the special duty quarterly allowance for security personnel in the Presidency.
The source said: “Under this arrangement, N80,000, N85,000 and N90,000 go to junior, middle and senior cadres respectively.
“This measure is to ensure that professionalism is maintained. General Monguno has also introduced Departmental Allowances to discourage any form of corruption and mismanagement of security fund”.
