The Chairman of the Military Pensions Board, Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Dabo, has said that he would commence biometric screening of military pensioners across the 36 states of the federation to weed out ghost pensioners.
This exercise is coming amidst complaints from some pensioners that their colleagues are dying as a result of the stress they are subjected to before they receive their monthly pensions.
The Military Pensions Board has not done any screening for pensioners in the past three years even though the exercise ought to be an annual event.
According to the Chairman, pensioners whose biometric data is not captured would be removed from the payroll.
“This year’s verification exercise is going to be technical and we have to capture your biometric data. So you have to be there physically, we have to clear you and then verify you, take your fingerprints, and your photo geometry.
“Once we are able to do that, it would definitely reduce or eliminate all those who will try to beat the system,” he said.
Some of the pensioners, however, raised concerns about the approved centres for the verification in their states. They said that the issue of logistics and the distance they have to travel within their states had not been properly considered.
They asked for more verification centres to be created to cater for those who live in remote areas.
The verification exercise will be conducted simultaneously in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
