Reps to investigate ₦2.3bn mismanagement of NSITF fund

The House of Representatives has directed the Committee on
Labour, Employment and Productivity to investigate the
activities of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) in
relation to the expenditure of ₦2.3 billion by its management.
This followed a unanimous adoption of a motion moved by
Rep. Francis Waive during the plenary presided over by the
Deputy Speaker of the house, Mr. Idris Wase on Tuesday.
The motion is titled “Need to Investigate the Activities of the
Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF)”.
Moving the motion, Waive recalled the report, in the Vanguard
Newspaper of Nov. 24, alleging a fraud of ₦2.3 billion against
the management of NSITF carried out without the
authorisation of its board or approval of the Ministry of Labour
and Employment.
The lawmaker added the transaction exceeded the spending
threshold of the management, according to the report.
He said the report also indicated that the management
allegedly awarded multi-million naira contracts for the
construction of office complexes of the NSITF in 12 states.
He added that “this is in addition to approving millions of naira
as duty tour allowances for trips, in contravention of a recent
directive from the Presidency banning such trips in order to
reduce wastage.
“At the end of August 2019, the sum of ₦2,294,161,925 had
allegedly been spent on staff trainings which were mostly not
approved by the board or the Ministry of Labour and
Employment, while many of the staff of the fund claimed that
they never attended any training, with a lot of infractions in
the process.”
The lawmaker expressed concern over the claim by the
management that it had spent billions of naira in settling
outstanding debts to contractors but details of such debts
were not provided to the board or the ministry.
He added that the claim raised suspicion about the
genuineness of the claimed debts and payments.
The house, however, said there was “an urgent need to
investigate the allegations to reposition the fund to deliver on
its mandate and also help in stamping out corrupt practices in
ministries, departments and agencies of government”
The lawmakers also directed the investigating committee to
report back in four weeks for further legislative action.