Kano Pension Board seeks court order to recover N5.3m sent to wrong account

The Kano State Pension Board has commenced legal proceedings to recover N5,346,587.16 that was mistakenly transferred into the wrong bank account during a bulk pension payment exercise through Jaiz Bank.

The board’s Director of Finance, Sunusi Aminu Rano, disclosed this in a statement, explaining that the error occurred during the primary data collection process when the last two digits of the intended beneficiary’s account number were incorrectly entered as “38” instead of “83.”

According to the statement, the typographical error resulted in the pension funds being credited to an unintended recipient.

Rano said the board acted immediately after discovering the mistake by contacting Jaiz Bank and formally notifying the bank of the erroneous transfer.

He explained that the bank informed the board that, in line with its operational procedures and regulatory requirements, a court order was required before the funds could be reversed.

The statement said the Pension Board had already initiated the legal process to obtain the necessary court order, which is expected to be ready on Monday. Once secured, it will be presented to Jaiz Bank to facilitate the immediate reversal of the funds.

The board expressed regret over the incident and assured pensioners and the public of its commitment to resolving the matter transparently and lawfully.

“We sincerely regret this unfortunate error and reaffirm our commitment to resolving the matter promptly, transparently, and in accordance with all legal and regulatory requirements,” the statement said.