Emem Egemba (not real name), a former staff member of the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) in the southeast, has narrated how Marcus-Okoko & Co., a consulting firm, defrauded him of N182,250.

Egemba told FIJ that Marcus-Okoko & Co. could defraud him because Steven Ogidan, the national coordinator of the Project Monitoring, Reporting and Remediation Office (PMRO) of NIRSAL, made him vulnerable.

He stated that his problem started in August 2019 after he got employed to work for NIRSAL.

He said Marcus-Okoko & Co., the consulting firm that recruited him for NIRSAL, deducted N12,150 from his salary between August 2019 and October 2020 for pension but did not remit it into any pension account.

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“What was written on the employment letter was a deduction of N12,150 monthly – that is, a pension contribution. After I assumed work, I kept getting my salary, but I noticed that I was not getting any pension remittance, even though it was always deducted from my salary,” Egemba told FIJ.

Egemba said NIRSAL decided to end its contracts with some of its consulting firms and this affected Marcus-Okoko & Co., making it harder for him to get his money.

“When I learned of the change of consultants, I asked Diane Okoko, a member of the Marcus-Okoko & Co. staff, about my money, but she said there was nothing she could do. This was because her company was affected,” he said.

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“But at the time, Steven Ogidan gave a directive that all the staff across Nigeria write their pension accounts and indicate the number of months deducted but not remitted into their pension accounts, which I did. But the issue remained the same.”

“Those currently working with NIRSAL cannot request their money, and this money cannot be accounted for even by Steven. This money is running into millions of naira.

FIJ called Steven Ogidan for comments, but he ended the call after our journalist introduced himself. A text message sent to him had not been responded to at press time.

Also, FIJ called Marcus-Okoko & Co. via a phone number displayed on its website but the respondent asked this reporter to look out for Diane Okoko. At press time, Marcus-Okoko & Co. had not responded to a text sent to their phone.