In furtherance of its commitment towards sanitizing the payroll system, Akwa Ibom State Government has extended the Biometric Capturing system to Pensioners who retired from public service in the state.
The verification exercise which is structured in phases and billed to hold at the sub-treasuries in the 31 LGAs in the state has kicked off with Local Governments that make up Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District.
In his reaction, the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Bassey Albert explained that state Government is sensitive to the welfare of retired Public servants in view of their contributions to the development of the state while in active service, which informed the adoption of biometric process to address some of the challenges regarding payment of pensions and gratuities.
Albert said it was expedient to capture and update all the necessary information of respective pensioners to ensure transparency, curb the rigor in collection of their monthly allowances, and stamp out ghost pensioners that has also characterized the system.
The Finance Commissioner noted that the task of the exercise is enormous in view of the large number of retirees in the state and expressed optimism that the process will be smooth sailing as the field officers are well trained and competent for the tasks ahead ,adding that only eligible pensioners will be accommodated in the e-payment system.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Elder Nse Ekefre described the Biometric initiative as a World class identification administrative mechanism put in place to ensure proper identification of all existing Pensioners on Government payroll.
He said it will eliminate anomalies such as multiple identity, fraud, ghost pensioners and other challenges in payment of pensions and gratuities in the State.
It will be recalled that the Biometric verification capturing system has been fully implemented in the core civil service in the state with resultant dividends in personnel cost and was extended to all state owned Agencies and Departments as well as Primary School Teachers under Local Education Authorities in the 31 LGAs in the state.
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