N68bn fraud rocks federal agency -Fred Itua

■ Whistle blower petitions EFCC

There is disquiet at the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), over the inability of the federal agency to meet its obligations to the 4000 staffers, a situation that has been attributed to the deep financial rot that has beset the agency.
NSITF, a specialized agency under the Ministry of Labour and Productivity is in the grips of a N68 billion fraud and other illegal expenditures and loans, allegedly secured without proper approval from rel­evant authorities.
The unsavoury financial situation of the agency came to light through a petition writ­ten to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a copy of which was obtained by Sunday Sun, in which the whis­tleblower, Mr. Hassan Mohammed Garba, alleged that a huge sum in excess of N50 billion contributed by workers since 2011 had been frittered away through fraudulent, spurious and questionable expenditures with the result that the funds cannot be ac­counted for today.
Garba equally revealed in his petition that huge loans, in billions, were obtained from banks to fund fictitious contracts.
Expressing his deep pain over the mind-boggling fraud in the agency, Garba said: “The level of fraud happening in NSITF is best imagined.”
Giving insight to the situation, he ex­plained: “NSITF is vested with the respon­sibility of piloting the Employees’ Compen­sation Scheme (ECS), empowered under the Employees’ Compensation Act (ECA), 2010. Section 33 (1) of the ECA, 2010, which stipulates that every employer, shall within the first two years of the commence­ment of the Act, make a minimum monthly contribution of 1.0 per cent of the total monthly payroll into the fund (NSITF).
“The scope of this Act includes all em­ployers and employees in the public and pri­vate sectors in the Federal Republic of Ni­geria, except members of the Armed Forces.
“Since the commencement of ECS in July 2011 and with the number of employ­ers, both in the private and public sectors that have keyed into the scheme, NSITF has received a contribution till date totalling N50 billion for 42 months on a monthly av­erage collection of N1.2 billion.
“This amount excludes the federal gov­ernment contribution of N18 billion (take-off grant of N1.5 billion in 2011, Federal Government contribution for MDAs that are not self-funded. That is N5.5 billion, each, in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively). This figure can be verified from the budget office.”
Garba alleged that despite the huge amount received by NSTIF, the agency is on the verge of liquidation, which would cause over 4000 staffers of the agency to lose their jobs unless something urgent was done about it.
In the face of the terribly depleted funds of the agency, Garba stated: “The signs are glaring. There are insufficient funds to pay staff as at when due. Salaries of staff are staggered. Some staff will be paid, while others have to wait for two or more weeks to receive the same salary. There are also arrears of 30 per cent of staff salaries since 2013 still outstanding. NSITF has not remit­ted PAYE tax since September 2013,” he alleged
Other shortcomings in­clude the non-remittance of National Housing Fund and Staff Pension Fund since September 2013.
Equally troubling is the further revelation by Garba that in April 2014, via a letter NSITF/RB/14/CON/ TR dated April 11, 2014, NSITF sought and obtained a staggering loan of N1 bil­lion, through its account number 2001676969 held in a first generation bank, ostensibly for the purpose of defraying the outstanding payments due to the staff.
Strangely, Garba alleged that the loan obtained from the bank was later diverted to fund other purposes, thereby leaving the staff high and dry.
The document extensive­ly detailed how over N3 bil­lion was allegedly siphoned through a devious ver­sion of contract re-cycling through a particular unit of the agency.
The petition also revealed how N1.8 billion was alleg­edly misappropriated under the guise of securing ISO (International Standards Or­ganization) certification for the agency, noting that the gambit was a classic scam.
Garba drew attention to the questionable expendi­ture of N2 billion to fund the deployment of Oracle software, declaring the ex­ercise as another conduit to siphon funds from the agency.
Garba made a frantic and passionate appeal to the EFCC to urgently investi­gate the allegations with a view to ending the impu­nity being perpetrated in the agency and “saving the careers of over 4000 staff of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) nation­wide.”
When Sunday Sun con­tacted the Head of Public Relations of NSITF, Mr. Aliyu Zubair, he denied the allegations of fraud in the organisation. He said the petitioner was out to smear the image of the manage­ment and board of NSITF. He did not give further comments.

Culled from The Sun