President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the sacking of top management staff of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) over alleged N3.4bn fraud. The affected staff includes the NSITF Managing Director (MD), Bayo Some fun, 3 Executive Directors (EDs), Jasper Azuatalam; Tijani Sulaiman, and Mrs. Olukemi Nelson. 9 top management officers were also dismissed.
The MD of NSITF and other dismissed management staff are suspected of spending N3.4bn on non-existent staff training divided into about 196 consultancy contracts to avoid approval and scrutiny from the ministerial tender's board and the Federal Executive Council.
The sack of the MD and others was a recommendation by the Presidential Joint Board and Audit Investigation Panel which was set up by the President in July 2020 to investigate infractions by NSITF management staff.
The panel also recommended that the sacked MD along with the 3 EDs return to the fund's treasury the sum of N181.056m being illegal overpayments in salaries, house allowance, allowances for overseas travels, leave allowances for self and spouses overseas, DSTV, and club registration and other allowances which was not approved by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC).
The other 9 top management staff who were also dismissed are expected to refund such overpayments.
In furtherance of the panel's recommendation, a new management board of NSITF has been approved by President Buhari. Dr. Michael Akabogu, General Manager, Risk Management Department of NSITF has been appointed as the new MD.
Newly appointed Executive Directors are Mrs. Caroline Temitope Akinwale, Mrs. Maureen Allagoa, and Mr. Gana Modu.
