The suspended management of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) on Sunday said contrary to allegations of misappropriation of funds, all training, contracts, and rehabilitation carried out received the approvals of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige and the National Assembly.
The management also denied the allegation of contract splitting made by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige.
“There was no contract splitting as claimed by the Minister. The training referred to were budgeted for in the year 2017, 2018, and 2019 appropriations for over 5,000 staff nationwide, and Procurement Planning Committee Meetings were held for the procurement of goods, works and services to commence the procurement activities. All these details were included in the budget for these years, taken for budget defense in the supervising Ministry, officially endorsed by the Minister himself, approved and transmitted to the National Assembly for necessary approval during the budget defenses for these years.”
The Minister again accused the suspended management that the project of construction of 14 Zonal/Regional offices in 14 states running into billions of Naira was a policy that was done without Board or ministerial knowledge not to talk of approval.
According to NSITF management, the projects were captured in the 2019 budget, brought for the budget defense in the supervising Ministry, chaired by the Minister himself, approved accordingly, endorsed by him, the Permanent Secretary, MD, and General Manager Finance before it was forwarded from the supervising ministry to the National Assembly for further necessary action and budget defense.
To buttress the above claim, the suspended management said the Minister personally increased the constructions by adding Akwa and Asaba sites.
“It is therefore not true that such policy issues were being done without Board or Ministerial knowledge, not to talk of approval.
“However, the only new office proposed for construction was in Awka at the direction and approval of the Minister himself.
“Consequently we can see that the renovation works were approved in the Fund budget by the Minister and the National Assembly. For further clarification the management of the Fund advertised the projects in Federal Tender Journal and national dailies and that the bids were competed for, opened publicly, evaluated, and awarded through transparent processes, it stated.
“Any other projects above the prescribed Threshold of the PTB were taken to the Ministerial Tender Board Meeting (MTB) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment through the Office of the Minister,” it added.
The suspended management alleged that suspending the top officials of the Fund even before a panel of inquiry is inaugurated could deny the officials the right frame of mind and official space to adequately respond to the allegations.
“We hereby seek that due process be followed and the suspended staff should be allowed to return to their offices to prepare their defense to all allegations against them. There are already reports that some of the documents needed to defend the allegations are being carted away from the office. Consequently, it would be appreciated if the Minister would comply with the SGF Circular Ref No.: SGF/OP/I.S.3/T/163 dated 19th May 2020,”
The Minster through deputy director, Press, Charles Akpan, on Saturday, said the NSITF management and some top officials were suspended because they violated the disciplinary procedure approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Akpan insisted that the Minister of Labour and Employment acted in line with the Constitution, Public Service Rules, and NSITF Act.
He explained that the NSITF Act empowers the Minister to recommend fit and proper persons to Mr. President for an appointment for the post of chairman, Managing Director, and three Executive Directors to manage the day to day affairs of the agency.
Although the Minister did not disclose the panel that indicted the suspended officials and how prima facie was established against them, he insisted that the suspension of the management became imperative after a preliminary investigation on allegations of corruption and prima facie infractions on the extant financial regulations and procurement Act and other acts of gross misconduct was established.
The Minister alleged that some of the infractions uncovered include N3.4 billion squandered on non-existent staff training split into about 196 different consultancy contracts in order to evade the Ministerial Tenders Board and Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval.
He also mentioned non-existent and un-executed N2.3 billion was documented and paid whileN1.1 billion is awaiting payment without any job done, all totaling N3.4 billion.
The Minister also indicted board members, who he claimed, watched as funds were frittered away.
“Same goes for projects of construction of 14 Zonal/ Regional offices in 14 states running into billions of Naira – a policy issue being done without Board or Ministerial knowledge not to talk of Approval. This was done in 2019 by the MD and his three-man Executive. Some of the projects are duplications and hence waste of funds, yet you are in the Board supposedly supervising!”
Read also
Don’t Wait On Government For Employment, Ngige Tells Unemployed Graduates
