•‘N3.4b spent on approved training for three years’
THE suspended Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Adebayo Somefun, on Monday accused Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige of hijacking the management of the agency.
Somefun said the allegations against the suspended management were strange.
The embattled managing director explained that the N3.4 billion the minister said was spent on “non-existent training” was the money spent on training between 2017 and 2019, adding that the trainings were duly approved and carried out.
Somefun, who was testifying before a House of Representatives ad hoc committee in Abuja, also said Ngige acted outside the public service rules and circulars from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) on how appointed chief executives should be sanctioned and Nigerian law of fair hearing.
The embattled MD told the committee that despite the achievements of the fund under his management, the minister levelled series of allegations against him without following laid-down procedure.
He said Ngige suspended the management and set up a panel to probe the same allegations he made.
The minister was absent at the hearing, but sent word that the committee should give him another date to appear.
Somefun said the normal procedure would have been for the board to investigate any allegation against the management and forward its report to the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, who would in turn forward same to the minister.
According to him, what the minister was expected to do was to forward the report to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), who would set up an independent investigation panel before recommending a course of action to the President.
Somefun accused the Ngige of totalitarianism and queried: “How can an interested party be the one to appoint an investigative panel? This is against the principles of fair hearing.”
The suspended MD said the minister was being economical with the truth when he said the suspended management spent about N3.4 billion on non-existing trainings.
He tendered documents before the committee, which he claimed were evidence of approvals for the trainings, with the names of the beneficiaries, the certificates awarded to them and the payment made to them through a platform operated by the fund.
Somefun alleged that Ngige personally wrote letters to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Office of the Auditor General to investigate the fund, but did not wait for the report from the two agencies before suspending the management.
The embattled MD also claimed that while he was on his annual leave, the minister ordered the General Manager in charge of Finance to pay N81 million for a training that was allegedly not done.
He said: “When I returned from leave, I queried the GM, Finance, and insisted that the training must be held. That is one of my sins that I was not forgiven.”
Somefun also accused the minister of personally writing to the management to carry out some promotions, which he claimed were not in line with the rules of the organisations.
According to him, despite his insistence that it would cause disaffection among the workers, the minister said it must be carried out.
The suspended MD also alleged that the Secretary to the NSITF board was appointed by the minister without following due process.
He added that the minister unilaterally suspended the Acting President of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) from attending the fund’s board meetings.
Both the suspended Executive Director of Finance and Investment, Jasper Azuatalam, and Executive Director of Operations, Kemi Nelson, said they were shocked by the reasons given for their suspension.
Azuatalam said: “I called the letter of suspension copy-and-past. The same letter they used to suspend the MD was the same letter given to me. I am not a member of the tenders’ board and have nothing to so do with procurement. But that was the reason for my suspension.”
Mrs. Nelson, who said she had built a reputation for herself and would not want anybody to tarnish it, also said she was accused of an offence she did not know anything nothing about and got suspended.
“My duty is operations. I have nothing to do with Finance and Procurement. I don’t spend money; I only bring in money into the fund. But they are accusing me of things that are outside the purview of my office.”
The committee also took evidence from the Permanent Secretary in charge of Insurance in the Office of the Head of Service, who, incidentally, is Ngige’s wife.
She told the committee that the letter she wrote to the Ministry of Labour and Employment was addressed to the Permanent Secretary and that it was to be communicated only to treasury funded agencies under the Ministry and not to NSITF which is not a treasury funded agency.
She explained that she was only performing her duty as directed by the Head of Service, saying “I did not write to the Minister but to the Permanent Secretary. I don’t have power to write to Ministers. Only the Head of Service has that power.”
The Chairman Mariam Onuoha said the committee was set up to investigate procedural breach of the presidential directives by the Ministers of Labour and Employment, as well as Power.