Federal Government inaugurates reconstituted Management Board of NSITF

The Federal Government has inaugurated the reconstituted Board of Management of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).

The Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, while inaugurating the Board in Abuja, charged the members to work to reposition and revitalize the Fund to fulfil its mandate in accordance with the Act establishing it.

Ngige urged the members to adhere strictly to “The statutory conditions of Service and remunerations for Board members approved by the Minister as enshrined in the NSITF Act.”

The Minister expressed optimism that the new management would steer the ship of the organisation well for it to perform creditably its principal mandate, which is implementing the Employee Compensation Act (ECA 2010).

The ECA 2020, according to him, provides for “A fair, guaranteed and adequate compensation for all insured employees in case of any injury, disease, disability or even death arising out of or in the course of work.”

He directed that procurement in the organisation be done in accordance with Procurement Act 2007, Finance Act 2000, Financial Regulation and extant Government Circulars, especially on threshold of procurement items, saying that “The era of looting billions of naira without a single voucher in the Nigeria Insurance Trust Fund is gone.”

He noted that there was a paradigm shift in the structural composition of the new board which must meet the huge expectations of a positive shift in goal delivery.

On the first of July 2020,  President Muhammadu Buhari approved the suspension of the former Managing Director, three Executive Directors and nine other senior Management Officers of the NSITF on allegation of misappropriation of funds.

The panel, which investigated the board according to the Minister, established 126 prima facie infractions on the extant financial Regulations and Procurement Act and other acts of gross misconduct against them and recommended the removal of the suspended officers.

“We must live down the past and lead a rewarding change in the fortunes of the NSITF. The years of the locust are now over.

“You can’t afford to take us back to Egypt. The era of looting of N48 billion without a single voucher is gone for good,” he said

He stressed the importance of drawing the attention of the new management to what he called “The financial haemorrhage” the NSITF had passed through in the last few years.

“The NSITF must be revitalised and repositioned to fulfil its mandate in accordance with the establishing Act.

“Instructively, therefore, the new Management should not indulge in the sins of the past and must adhere to the statutory conditions of service and remunerations for Board Members approved by the Minister as enshrined in the NSITF Act,” he stressed.

The new management is required to forward a quarterly and annual report of its performance to the Ministry of Labour of Employment.

“Our measure as supervising Ministry is tied to your performance in terms of realisation of your mandate and vision.

 “I congratulate you all, especially those who held the ship in the past 11months.

 “That was a trying period even as you recorded an increase of about 7 billion naira in your contributions when compared to the same time last year,” he said.

The tenure of the members of the Executive Management is four years in the first instance and is renewable.

According to Ngige, the new nominal Directors with the remaining Directors and Chairman will serve out the remaining period of their institutional representation ending May 2023.

Responding, Chairman of the Board, Mr Austine Isire, commended the Federal Government for the opportunity to serve pledging that the new Management Board would remain resolute in the discharge of its duties.

 “The new people have been charged and the charge is that there has to be a change in the social order because the mission statement clearly states so.

 “We want to assure you again that the President’s change agenda will come to fruition,” he said.

Those inaugurated were, Mr Akabogu Michael, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mrs Akinwale Temitope, Executive Director Finance and Investment and Mrs Allagoa Maureen as Executive Director Administration.

Other nominal Directors were; Mrs Lauretta Adogu, Director, Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Ministry of Labour and Employment and replacing Mrs lfeoma Anyawutaku who is now a Permanent Secretary, Najeem Yasin, Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress NLC representative, who replaced the late Khaleel Ibrahim who died sometime in October 2020.

PIAK