The National Pension Commission says some politicians are circulating fake documents and fictitious bank transactions to discredit the Director-General of the Commission, Aisha Dahir-Umar.
This was contained in a statement made available to Channel Network Afrique, CNA in Abuja.
The statement which described the report on an online media as the handiwork of some desperate politicians seeking appointments under the administration of President Bola Tinubu debunked the insinuation that the DG was paid millions of dollars as estacodes for foreign trips she did not embark upon in 2020.
The report had claimed that the DG received the funds through a Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number, 20165261012 domiciled with the GTB, used by government officials for internal purposes.
It alleged that in 2019, specifically on January 3rd, she was paid $1,800,480 in estacode on a Washington DC trip, claiming that no specific reason was attached to the trip, which has a transaction reference number 269574350 with Batch number 6309.
But PenCom statement said that the poor attempt at to drag the DG in the mud was exposed by the fact that there was a global lockdown in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic during which international travels were restricted.
According to the statement, offices were shut down and most people had to hold virtual meetings.
PenCom stated further that it is “most outlandish to suggest that any government agency would claim to be paying allowances to its officials for international travels when most airports were shut down globally.”
It added that official foreign trips require strict documentation, including air tickets, stamped passport pages and evidence of number of days spent, noting that rates for estacodes are standardised.
PenCom further noted that if the DG were to spend two years abroad without returning to the country for one day, it would still be impossible for her to claim a million dollars as estacode.
“Management would like to alert the public to the renewed campaign of outrageous falsehood against the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and its Director General, Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, over some imagined financial impropriety.
“Although the promoters of this fiction went to the extent of manufacturing documents and listing non-existent bank accounts to make the fabrication look real, a fiction remains a fiction and can never become the truth no matter how many times it is repeated and recycled.
“It was alleged that the Director General was paid millions of dollars as estacodes for foreign trips she did not embark upon in 2020. This poor attempt at calumny is exposed by the fact that there was a global lockdown in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic during which international travels were restricted.
“Offices were shut down and most people had to hold virtual meetings. It is, thus, most outlandish to suggest that any government agency would claim to be paying allowances to its officials for international travels when most airports were shut down globally.
“More so, official foreign trips require strict documentation, including air tickets, stamped passport pages and evidence of number of days spent. Rates for estacodes are standardised. If the DG were to spend two years abroad without returning to the country for one day, it would still be impossible for her to claim a million dollars as estacode.
“The desperate fabricators need to respect the intelligence of Nigerians.We are aware of current political intrigues in the country caused by the jostling for appointments, but we believe there are more decent ways of going about it than peddling tales by moonlight and using notorious online outlets to push the lies to unsuspecting readers.
“The public is implored to ignore these fake documents and the discredited allegations being recycled at the slightest opportunity. The Commission has nothing to hide and will continue to run a transparent and accountable system,” it concluded.
