Managing Director/Chief Executive Maureen Allagoa’s Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) is under fire for allegations of corruption and nepotism involving top executives.
In a letter addressed to the Managing Director of the NSITF dated June 1, 2023, after a congress held on May 30, 2023, top management is accused of corruption and nepotism.
The NSITF was established by the Nigerian government to provide financial and insurance services to employees registered with the Fund.
The Association of Senior Staff of Banks Insurance and Financial Institutions (NSITF Domestic Unit) alleged the statutory deductions, NHF, PFA and tax from staff members have not been remitted, some for ten years estimated at N2bn. They also claimed that the management recently reviewed salaries to favour them while staff members were left with peanuts.
It alleged further, “The same management demoted most staff by a minimum of three years and chose to promote a few in a manner laced with nepotism.
“The recent recruitment falls short of the prescribed standard in process and placement, particularly on the intake of management staff.
“The management is insensitive to the plight of the workers, and despite entreaties and official correspondences from the National and the Domestic Units of our Unions, on the need to resolve these identified issues, your leadership has not responded to the requests and suggestions, and even ‘cries’ of the workers. left alone set a pathway to correcting these observed aberrations.”
Consequently, the union is demanding that the Statutory Deductions, Tax, Pension and National Housing Fund, estimated to be in billions of Naira, be immediately remitted to the appropriate authorities and deserving beneficiaries.
“The tactical demotion of Staff disguised as Grade Level Adjustment should be immediately reversed, and the Grade Levels 17a & 17b which is the cause of this breach for this anomaly be coalesce as One (1) Grade Level 17. Management should avail staff evidence of payment of the over Two (2) Billion Naira of tax deductions arising from the Consequential Adjustment arrears paid to staff in 2022.
“Management should explain in clear terms, the take home pay of staff and how they arrived at the computation on the consolidated salary. 5. Executive Management should either apply the same form of implementation on their salary to that of other staff or return the difference on theirs to the coffers of the Fund as there is no approval or justification for this. We demand for full implementation of the revised salary as implemented for the Executive Management.
“Benefit of all exited staff should be paid immediately. 7. All staff denied promotion owing to the unavailability of space should be reconsidered forthwith. g All recent recruitments did not conform to the prescription of the Public Service Rules, Staff Conditions of Service and therefore be reversed immediately.
“Failure to meet these demands within 14 days of receipt of this letter, we shall not hesitate to take appropriate industrial actions. Meanwhile, the 57 branches and 12 regions nationwide have been mobilized and put on high alert for eventual actions,” it added.
The former President, Muhammdu Buhari, had sacked the former MD of the fund Michael Akabogu over
Buhari reconstituted the Fund’s board in line with Sections 7 and 8 of the NSITF Act, CAP N88, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004.
Chief Emmanuel Nwosu was appointed as the board chairman.
