NHIS boss in N860m fraud scandal

The Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme‎, Prof. Usman Yusuf, has been fingered in a N860 million fraud, a development that compelled the Senate to begin investigation into the scandal.
The revelation came through a motion sponsored by Senator Kabiru Marafa, who enumerated unapproved spending of the Executive Secretary of the agency.
Marafa alleged that N400 million was spent in October 2016 for staff training.
He added that the Executive Secretary singlehandedly incurred N292 million for health Care Financing Training without recourse to appropriate approving authority.
Marafa also accused the NHIS boss of spending N50 million for promotional items such as T-shirt and face caps, adding that N118 million was spent for another training of staff.
In the motion, Yusuf was accused of lopsided employment and fraudulent change in the designation and nomenclature of General Manager to “Head” to circumvent extant laws establishing the NHIS.
Marafa also added that Yusuf unilaterally recruited of 15 staff either on full employment or secondment without adherence to extant civil service rules.
Marafa also demanded that Senate probes the activities of NHIS boss from the day he was appointed.
In his contribution, Senator Mao Ohuabuwa supported the motion.
Ohuabuwa requested that the Senate should immediately look into the issue.‎
After exhaustive debate, the Senate unanimously e‎ndorsed the motion by Marafa and set up a adhoc committee that would investigate the matter.
The committee members are Ahmad Lawan (chairman), Lanre Tejuosho (member), Issa Misau (member), Kabiru Marafa (member), Mao Ohuabuwa (member) and Ahmed Ogembe (member).‎