Senate has embarked on investigation of officials of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) over alleged diversion and mismanagement of N61.1bn.
The agency is expected to appear before the lawmakers on Tuesday, 15th June for the investigation.
The Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) chaired by Senator Mathew Urhoghide hinged the investigation on the 2018 Auditor General Report which is being considered by the lawmakers.
According to Auditor General query, the agency was accused of diversion of N5.5 billion from its account with Zenith Bank. Also in another query, NSTIF paid N38.2 billion as personnel cost from 2012 till 2017 which was not approved by National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission and payment of N17.1 billion transferred to some persons and companies from these accounts.
The Chairman of the Committee spoke when the newly appointed Managing Director, Dr. Michael Akabogu said the agency disclosed that the agency has over 50 queries to respond to before the committee which is the highest in 2018 Auditor General Report.
However, the Managing Director appealed to the Committee to go through the report and if there is anyone that he can’t respond to, he urged the committee to reach out to the former Managing Director to respond to.
The query reads, “Audit observed that the Fund had been implementing a salary structure that is not approved by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission. As a result, irregular payment of N 38,219,919,530.32 by way of personnel cost was made to the staff of the Fund from 2012 to 2017.
“Risk Implementation of unapproved salary structure may result in wastage of public funds, as remuneration may be higher than the productivity level of staff. Recommendation: The Managing Director is required to provide the approval of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission for the implementation of the Fund’s salaries structure.”
In another query which reads, “Audit of the Fund’s bank statements for the period under review revealed that contributions received from Federal Government in 2014, amounting to N 5,500,000,000.00 were diverted to a Zenith Bank account number 1013938003, instead of the Skye Bank account number 1790122304 into which other contributions were paid, without providing any authority or any form of explanation for such diversion.
” Audit further observed the following: A. The bank account was opened without the approval of the Accountant-General of the Federation, as no such approval was presented for audit. B. The new account was opened specifically for this purpose as seen in the bank statements where a first tranche of N 2,750,000,000.00 was used in opening the account on the 29th of August 2014.
” Transfers were further made from the account to third parties, individuals and other NSITF accounts without payment vouchers and other supporting documents to authenticate such transfers.
“This puts doubt in the genuineness of all the transactions in the bank account. Consequently, audit cannot accept such transactions without necessary evidence as legitimate charges against public funds. “
The third query reads, “Audit observed from the Fund’s Statements of Account No. 1750011691 with Skye bank plc, for the period 1st January, 2013 to 20th December, 2013, and Statements of Account No.2001754610 with First Bank Plc for the period 7th January, 2013 to 28th February, 2013, that amounts totaling N17,158,883,034.69 were transferred to some persons and companies from these accounts.
“However, payment vouchers relating to the transfers together with their supporting documents were not provided for audit. Consequently, the purpose(s) for the transfers could not be authenticated.”