NASSIT Pays Le1.4 Billion To Persons Without Social Security Numbers

By Aruna Momoh Kargbo
The National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) made payment totaling NLe1,448,191.00 which is equivalent to Le1,448,191,000 in old Leones to 75 government pensioners who were without social security numbers and NASSIT unique identification numbers.
This was revealed by the protector of the Sierra Leone public purse, Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) in their recently published Audit report, noting that a review of the NAPOSS II system database revealed that the payment in question was made between January and August 2023.
“We recommended that the Database Administrator repair the database to ensure all validation functions (rules and triggers) in the application are fully activated to avoid any falsification and manipulation of records and data on the system,” the report stated.
Responding to the concern raised by ASSL, NASSIT maintained that it is important to note that Government pensioners receive payments based on their Pension ID, not their social security numbers.
The Trust furthered that social security numbers are generated for cosmetic purposes, specifically to display on their identity cards.
“Importantly, this practice does not result in any financial loss. The numbers are generated periodically in batches, and management will be assigning social security numbers to all pensioners who currently do not have them,” NASSIT stated.
However, ASSL stated that their recommendation was not implemented and therefore, the issue remains unresolved.