76-Year-Old Borno Civil Sevant Who Still Collects N675 As Pension

According to Isa Gusau, a spokesman for Borno State Governor, a pensioner by the name Ngaudari Ali claimed he collects a paltry N696 monthly from the Borno State Government as pension. The document which was first circulated by one Abdulhamid Al-Gazali on his Facebook wall (and obtained by KSM News) portrays the government of Governor Kashim Shettima in negative light, even though the promoters of the hate document failed to realise that the said pensioner, Ngaudari Ali, started receiving such paltry sum from 1979, even when Governor Kashim Shettima was still in secondary school.

But in his reaction, Isa Gusau, who subjected the document to a thorough-going scientific scrutiny, had told KSM News that he discovered (and of course suspects) the entire document was doctored by some political opponents to cause mischief, as according to Gusau, "For instance, from the record on that post, the man's date of birth is 1939 and then he started receiving pension in 1979. This means he started receiving pension at the age of 40 because if we subtract 1939 when he was born from 1979 when he started receiving pension, we will get 40 and this means he started getting pension at a youthful age of 40. How reasonable is that? We all know that workers retire from the civil service after 35 years from the date of their first recruitment. Does it mean Baba Ali started working at the age of 5 years when he was supposed to be a child?," Gusau queried.

Gusau further faulted the attitude of some gullible people in the social media, who due to laziness, "swallow everything posted on facebook without making the slightest attempt to make...independent investigations or at least ask questions."

Gusau further said, "For instance, isn't it possible for anyone to just sit down, use the computer to produce a pay slip and falsify signatures and of course get any photograph to use mainly to paint the Borno State Government in bad light? On this post for instance, I expect the guy who made that post to tell us where the Baba worked in Borno and when he disengaged, how much his salary was whether under the colonial era or the first republic if he worked there and most importantly, his pension reference number which we can use to trace his records at the pension board. From what I can see in that post, the man seem anonymous, there is no evidence to prove he even exist. We need verifiable contact details because I am usually passionate about such issues for I know Governor Kashim Shettima will always be interested in such matters. We all know that getting passport photographs can be so easy. I can just walk to the pension board and snap anyone without him knowing, I can also go to road side photographers who hand passports of customers and get one. It is also easy to produce a fake pay slip and sign. I have since realized that a lot of people post false claims on facebook."

The media strategist to Governor Shettima however challenged all those posting negative comments...to task the guy who made that post to help...with reference of the old man, where he worked, when he left service and possibly how he can be traced.

"I challenge all those posting negative comments here to task the guy who made that post to help us with reference of the old man, where he worked, when he left service and possibly how we can trace him. I also challenge all of us to make researched comparisons between the policy of Governor Shettima towards pensioners and payment of pensions with all previous administrations in Borno State from 1999 to 2011 and please let's come up with verifiable statistics on amount being paid, reviews made and regularity of payments. We are all educated and this is why we all have the ability to make comments. I think we should be asking questions otherwise, we will continue to remain tools in the hands of some of us who are politically partisan," Gusau noted.

The full text of Isa Gusau's comments, is hereby reproduced below:

Questions on the Borno Pensioner that "collects N696 or N700?" monthly

Someone posted these two items some time ago which I just saw a moment ago. The claim was that the old man in the picture, Ngaudari Ali collects N696 monthly as pension. Naturally, the post incited public emotions with many sentencing the Borno State Government without asking questions.

My question is that, did anyone of us making comments actually looked at the dates contained on the records of the old man properly? For instance, from the record on that post, the man's date of birth is 1939 and then he started receiving pension in 1979. This means he started receiving pension at the age of 40 because if we subtract 1939 when he was born from 1979 when he started receiving pension, we will get 40 and this means he started getting pension at a youthful age of 40. How reasonable is that? We all know that workers retire from the civil service after 35 years from the date of their first recruitment. Does it mean Baba Ali started working at the age of 5 years when he was supposed to be a child? Or are we saying that he was also a ghost worker who was collecting salary since he was born? Please let's not allow anyone use our good brains.

What I hate so much about most of us making comments about issues relating to Borno is that we are terribly lazy. Most of us swallow everything posted on facebook without making the slightest attempt to make our independent investigations or at least questions. For instance, isn't it possible for anyone to just sit down, use the computer to produce a pay slip and falsify signatures and of course get any photograph to use mainly to paint the Borno State Government in bad light? On this post for instance, I expect the guy who made that post to tell us where the Baba worked in Borno and when he disengaged, how much his salary was whether under the colonial era or the first republic if he worked there and most importantly, his pension reference number which we can use to trace his records at the pension board. From what I can see in that post, the man seem anonymous, there is no evidence to prove he even exist. We need verifiable contact details because I am usually passionate about such issues for I know Governor Kashim Shettima will always be interested in such matters. We all know that getting passport photographs can be so easy. I can just walk to the pension board and snap anyone without him knowing, I can also go to road side photographers who hand passports of customers and get one. It is also easy to produce a fake pay slip and sign. I have since realized that a lot of people post false claims on facebook. On many occasions, I take it upon myself to confront Government officials whenever I come across issues like this but I end up disappointed and become so ashamed on realizing I was being fooled by political opponents. I challenge all those posting negative comments here to task the guy who made that post to help us with reference of the old man, where he worked, when he left service and possibly how we can trace him. I also challenge all of us to make researched comparisons between the policy of Governor Shettima towards pensioners and payment of pensions with all previous administrations in Borno State from 1999 to 2011 and please let's come up with verifiable statistics on amount being paid, reviews made and regularity of payments. We are all educated and this is why we all have the ability to make comments. I think we should be asking questions otherwise, we will continue to remain tools in the hands of some of us who are politically partisan. I beg us to try as much as we can to support anything we post with incontrovertible evidence, this is what will make us different from those who pick matters from beer parlors. I am sure we are all responsible, let's prove it.