An investigation has shown that the suspended director-general of the Pensions Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Nellie Mayshak, does not earn N50 million monthly as was alleged by some sections of the media.
Following a report by online medium, The Cable, several media had alleged that Mayshak paid herself between N50 to N60 million monthly from the directorate’s coffers as monthly emoluments.
But a source at the National Salaries, Incomes & Wages Commission (NSIWC), the agency of government that is saddled with all matters relating to wages and salaries of workers in the public sector, has rubbished the allegations.
According to the source who spoke on conditions of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, Mayshak could not in any way have legally earned that sum monthly as a public servant in the public sector.
“It is absolutely impossible for one public servant to earn that amount as monthly emoluments in Nigeria, maybe somewhere else in the world,” the source said.
“Nigerians need to know that NSIWC was established just to ensure that such a thing does not happen. The Commission could not have approved of such a sum under any circumstance.
“So, while the issue of fraud at PTAD may or may not be true, the humongous salary is nowhere near the truth. She does not even earn that in a year, legally that is.”
It will be recalled that, last Wednesday, the Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr. Joe Abah, following the news of Mayshak’s suspension, went on Twitter to affirm the impossibility of the salary reports claimed Mayshak earned.
“…it is impossible to earn N60 million a month as a public officer,” he wrote.
Investigations further revealed that the suspension of the PTAD DG had nothing to do with her salaries, a point that the Special Adviser, Media, to the Minister of Finance, Mr Festus Akanbi, noted in the statement he issued to newsmen on Friday.
According to him, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun placed Mayshak on suspension, to allow ‘unimpeded’ investigations into allegations of fraud at the Agency, not the salary she earned or a particular case of fraud she perpetuated.
“The suspension which is a normal civil service procedure is to pave way for an unimpeded investigation into the activities of the directorate under the watch of Mayshak,” the statement read.
A source who works at the Ministry of Finance, which supervises PTAD, confidentially revealed that the issue of Mayshak’s salary was not even discussed by the minister at any point.
“There is no official recognition of the allegations that she earns N50m monthly. It certainly did not come from the Honorable Minister,” he said.
Another
During investigations, it was also discovered that salaries earned at PTAD are much lower than those earned at several other agencies like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the Education Tax Fund (ETF) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), to mention but a few.
One former employee of PTAD explained that the salaries of PTAD staff only look high because they are consolidated with all allowances rolled up into one sum.
He explained that a PTAD staff is not entitled to any allowance after the salary, unlike some civil servants who are still paid huge allowances, thirteenth month salaries, leave allowances, transport allowance, and the likes.
“If you are to remove the allowances from the salary of the average PTAD staff, what you will get will not be far from what is obtainable throughout the civil service,” he explained.
“It is just an attractive lump sum.”
Efforts to get an official position from NSIWC officials proved abortive.
