By Cross Udo, Abuja
The management of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) yesterday said that no amount of blackmail and falsehood can stop it from implementing Tinubu’s eight-point agenda for the good of the people.
The Fund also said that the recent unsubstantiated corruption allegation against it is nothing but falsehood and the handiwork of extortionists, blackmailers, and detractors.
The Managing Director of the Fund, Maureen Allagoa, stated the above when she reacted to a statement by a civil society group: Anti-Corruption, Good Governance and Human Rights Watch Network (AGHRWN), that rot of corruption oozes in the agency under her watch.
The MD said that NSITF has nothing to hide and that the agency’s books have been open for public scrutiny since she was appointed in 2023.
Allagoa in a statement signed by the Fund’s General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Nwachukwu Godson, noted that there have been orchestrated waves of uninformed and baseless publications by phantom groups and persons sponsored to tarnish the image of NSITF.
She vowed that no amount of falsehood, blackmail, and threats will stop her management from taking the ongoing transformation of the agency along the 8-Point Agenda of the Tinubu administration to fruition.
The statement quoted her as saying, “We have nothing to hide, and our books have been open for public scrutiny since I was appointed as the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the NSITF in 2023. Upon appointment, my EXCO set a target whose thrust lies in the reform of the agency to fully implement the Employees Compensation Scheme.
“The truth is that the NSITF at the moment is probably one of the most scrutinized agencies of government and no verdict of guilt has been established beyond the usual nebulous tattletales and beer parlour gossip that lack logic and facts.”
“Following petitions from Nigerians, among whom are those with genuine concerns and others with undisguised mal fide, the anti-corruption agencies have been investigating those petitions but are yet to pin any wrongdoing to me or my EXCO.
“We therefore dare those behind these publications to make available to the public, one proven case of corruption against the NSITF since I assumed office in February 2023.
“Urging the ICPC and EFCC to investigate the NSITF with the indictment in mind is an exercise in vain for we fear no scrutiny. We went the extra mile to revive the anti-corruption unit in the fund, resourced them to effectively discharge their duty, and thereby primed all staff towards transparency.
“In the past one year, the fund has held only one procurement process, apart from an ongoing one which is for the procurement of the internet-based information technology facilities, without which the day-to-day running of the Fund will grind to a halt.
“We convened the Parastatals Tenders Board to approve and transmit it to the Ministerial Tenders Board to equally approve or reject. When a certain phony Anti-Corruption, Good Governance, and Human Rights Watch Network accused the fund of “violating the public procurement process,” we wondered where and how.
“Even though we have restrained ourselves from descending into the vortex of recriminations with faceless persons and groups, there is no better time to call the bluff of these amorphous people. Prove your allegations or stay away! Nigerians are not wet behind the ears or ripe for the picking. Nigerians are not gullible to buy into unsubstantiated sweeping allegations, punctuated with threats.”
AGHRWN had in a statement jointly signed by its National Coordinator, Muhammed Adamu Usman, and Secretary, Babatunde Adekunle, called on President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly, Attorney General of the Federation, to direct anti-graft agencies to thoroughly investigate the current management of NSITF and prosecute those found faulty.
It is described as oozing the rot of corruption in the Fund despite the sanitation against corruption done by the immediate past government.
The CSO said; “We will kick-start an action tagged: “Free NSITF from corruption” with a protest at the Abuja headquarters of the agency. It is an awareness campaign intending to rescue the agency from corruption and those perpetuating it.
“On the very day of the campaign, thousands of our members will converge at the Federal Secretariat and the procession will first go to the Office Attorney General of the Federation, the National Assembly, and then to NSITF headquarters.”
