ICPC to probe 60,000 ghost workers, pensioners – FG

The Federal Government said it has asked the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission to probe the incidence of 60,000 ghost workers and pensioners that have been weeded out from the government payroll.Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, disclosed this at the 2014 Ministerial Press Briefing also addressed by the minister and the Minister of State for Finance.Speaking on the effort of the ministry at fighting corruption, Okonjo-Iweala said atotal of 60,000 ghost workers and pensioners have been weeded off from the payroll.She said because the ministry lacked thepower and resources for investigation, ICPC has been invited to investigate andprosecute public officials that may have been involved in the criminal act.The minister said, “We have handed over the matter to ICPC; to investigate those that are culpable and prosecute them. We are ready to give them the information that we have.”Given some economic indicators, the minister said the country’s External Reserve had risen from $36.6bn as of June to $39.48bn as at October 16.She put Excess Crude Account at$4.11bn and the Sovereign Wealth Fund at $1.55bn.According to the minister, the Nigerian Customs Service realised N713bn in the first nine months of the year; adding that the service was on its way to realising the target of N1.2trn given to it for 2014.The Federal Inland Revenue Service, on the other hand, has realised N44bn out of the N75bn additional target assigned to the organisation to collect to help the government to close gaps in funding.The minister said, “Global benchmark oilprice has fallen from $114 per barrel in June to less than $90 per barrel in October.“Shale oil production in the United States and sluggish demand from Europe and Asia are putting downward pressure on the demand for crude oil.“In spite of the global uncertainty, our economy continues to evolve with dynamism, stability and resilience ridingon sound macroeconomic management even in the face of oil price and quantitative shocks.“Though Nigeria is no longer the top Foreign Direct Investment destination in Africa as it was in 2011 and 2012, it remained in the top three in 2013 behind South Africa and Mozambique.”Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that AMCON would be redeeming N866bn bond within October in addition to the N1trn itredeemed in 2013. She also put the ratio of the non-performing loans at 3.69 per cent as at July.She, however, expressed concern over the ratio of the cost of servicing debt to revenue. According to her, this has risen from 14.79 per cent in 2011 to 19.87 percent in 2014.According to the minister, the rising cost of service ratio was not because of the nation’s debt profile was too high but because there a need to grow the revenue base. She added that a ceiling of 26 per cent has been set beyond which debt service to revenue ratio should never rise.She disclosed that the ministry negotiated some long term credit financing amounting to $14.1bn (about N2.4trn) to support the real sector.The minister did not disclose the span oftime that it took to arrange the credit financing but listed it to include: N30bn credit risk guarantee to Nigeria’s commercial banks; $80m for second Niger Bridge; $200m for various ministries and $500m for five new airports.Answering question on whether Nigeria was broke or not, Okonjo-Iweala said the recurring question was not necessary.According to her, the nation has resources from which it makes money on regular basis. She added that temporary lack of cash could occur to individuals and nations but assured that this month’s Federal Accounts AllocationCommittee meeting would hold as scheduled.Answering question on the 2014 budget implementation, Director General of Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Bright Okogu, disclosed that N610bn hasso far been released for capital projects.Breaking down the releases, he said N210bn was released for the quarter while N200bn was released for the second quarter of the year. For the third quarter, N200bn has been released. Thethird release, he added, was currently being cash-backed.