Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said yesterday that government has uncovered about N1 billion paid to unidentified police pensioners every month.A billion Nigerian Naira = 6,168,080.18 USD
The discovery was made after a biometric data exercise conducted on police pension fund, the minister said in Abuja at a press briefing on the 2012 budget breakdown.
In 2010, Nigeria received a total of $614.7 million in U.S. foreign aid.
So, an amount equal to 12% of the foreign aid Nigeria received from the United States in 2010, went toward paying ghost police pensioners, which must represent only a fraction of the total number of government pensions being paid.
The amount of money lost to corruption among the world's developing countries is truly staggering. It is one of the main contributors to global poverty and misery. Biometrics can help.
See also:
Slate: How Biometric IDs Will Help Developing Countries Fight Corruption and Bust Fake Workers.
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