Headline

The Nine Sins that Saw Usman Yusuf Out of NHIS

Published

6 years ago

October 19, 2018

Eric

The Governing Council of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has released a list of infractions that eventually prompted theindefinite suspension of the embattled Executive Secretary of the Scheme, Usman Yusuf. They are presented as follows:

(1) 2018 Budget Crisis
At the Inauguration of the council in March 2018, NHIS had no approved budget for its activities for 2018. Therefore, council underscored passing the 2018 Budget as priority. Unfortunately, management of the scheme seemed unmindful of the financial and operational risks and consequences of running a public entity without approved budget. Sadly, ten months into the financial year, the scheme has no approved budget.

To arrest the drift and expedite progress, the finance committee and council held five meetings, dedicated to the budget culminating in a resolution on 24th July 2018 which directed the Executive Secretary (ES) to amend, reflecting final council positions and represent for Chairman’s signature to avoid further delay.

Some highlights of the required amendments include the following;

a) Removal of the N264 million padding discovered in the budget proposal.

b) Reduction of the 2018 training budget from N1billion to a realistic N250 million to avoid the training stampede in 2017 when N919, 664, 800 was spent, in just three months, without needs assessment and departmental; training plans.

c) Removal of the N100 million posting and transfer provision since the council had adopted an early policy that transfers/postings shall be contingent upon outcome of comprehensive staff audit to enable the scheme align transfers and postings with needs, structure, skills and organization strategy.

D) Removal of the frivolous provision of N50 million for an additional SUV for the ES considering that one was acquired for him only last year.

However, after many reminders through council members, the ES forwarded the budget documents on the 6th August, 2018 without the amendments as directed. The Chairman subsequently, returned the budget documents to weeks later with detailed analysis. Significantly, till date there has been no response, compliance nor correspondence on the matter whatsoever from the ES despite written reminders sent to him by the Chairman.

2) Fraudulent Inflation Of The Cost Of Bio-metric Capturing Machines
The 2018 Budget Proposal submitted by the ES included the procurement of biometric capturing machines at a unit cost of N11, 500, 000.00 whereas the market cost is only between N700, 000.00 and N1, 4million depending on specifications. When council finance committee requested for more information and vendor presentation to justify the astronomical cost, the ES blatantly refused to oblige. It is significant that the ICT project cost escalated, without justification, by 42% from N7, 783, 185, 805.37 in 2015 to N18, 864, 674, 612.85v in 2016 and N14. 975, 032, 572.30 in 2018. Unfortunately, the ICT project which should significantly improve operational efficiency and service delivery is stalled because Executive Secretary denied council critical information requited for decision making on the project.

3) Attempt to illegally Execute N30 Billion Investment in FGN Bonds:
The ES submitted memos to council on 27th March and 25th April, 2018 requesting approval to invest N30billion residual funds. While the memoranda referenced ministerial approval for the investment dated 18th August 2017, it failed to disclose ministerial memo dated 29th August 2017 which withdrew the earlier approval stating that investment would violate the prevailing Presidential order on operating TSA.

If the ES had succeeded in misleading the council to approve this investment, the scheme would have violated the presidential order on the operations of the TSA. In addition, the attempt by the ES to execute the N30 billion FGN bonds Investment through a private company instead of directly through the CBN, would have resulted in the scheme incurring investment arbitrage costs of between N600million to N1.2 billion which would have accrued to the private company.. Consequently, on account of the wilful failure to fully disclose critical information, council stayed action on the investment.

4) Unlawful Staff Postings And Wilful Defiance of Council Directive
Organization execute staff transfers and postings to match skills with needs and also align skills with organizational structure and strategy. Therefore Council directed management on 7th May, 2018 to conduct management review and comprehensive staff audit to maximize organizational benefits from staff postings and transfers.

Furthermore, to stabilize the management cadre, strengthen institutional memory and create proactive, consistent, confident professional insulated from unpredictable political appointees, Council resolved that, henceforth the authority to appoint, post and discipline staff of the directorate cadre shall reside with council in accordance with provision of the NHIS Act. No 35, 1999 section 8 (4a).

However, on 3rd October, the ES conducted massive postings and transfers of over 85 staff, in defiance of council resolutions. Furthermore, there is no reason, rhyme or rationale for postings.

First, the postings are arbitrary and, in some cases, punitive. For example, the GM procurement was posted to a zonal office and replaced by another GM who has no experiences of procurement. Also with postings, another GM, with no accounting or IT management experiences was posted as GM Contribution Management.

Secondly, the financial cost to the scheme, N48million in staff relocation allowances is not approved in the 2018 budget because council stepped down the N100 million proposed for postings.

Finally, the strategic and operational benefits of the postings are negligible and a colossal waste, particularly in the context of the gross deficit 2018 budget proposed by the ES. Sadly, the postings and the stampede to pay allowances without budget approval, two days before this council meeting, constitute a defiant, proactive and insubordinate act by ES and underscore the prevalent fiscal and management recklessness.

It is on record that the ES signed the minutes of the meeting of 7th May 2018 and the extract therefrom which established council resolutions on general postings and specifically, postings of directorate cadre staff as NHIS policy.

5) Wilful Refusal to Implement Council Directive on the Disbanding of Illegal Union
The ES refused to implement council resolution directing a local chapter of the Nigeria Civil Service Union in NHIS from operating in NHIS as a parallel staff union within the scheme. Contrary to assurances to council that the resolution had been implemented, the said union continues to operate, and generate tension with active support of the ES. His current defense for this act of defiance is that his lawyers, not NHIS legal department advised him to ignore council resolution on the matter.

6) Unauthorized Staff Travel In Defiance of Council Directive
In May 2018, ES requested for approval to travel to Geneva for himself and four other staff, including his personal assistant. Approval was granted for him but denied for the other four. However, he traveled with the four staff in defiance of the council directive. This unauthorized entourage arrived in Geneva just one day before the conference closed. This trip cost NHIS the sum of N17million which exceeds limit of N2.5million. He failed to justify his action in this regard, when council demanded one.

7) Superfluous Arrogation of Project Vehicles
The ES remains insensitive to the consequences of the gross budget deficit operated by scheme and continues to aggregate non-essential spending. For example, he arrogated seven project vehicles to himself. Three of these cars are for the office and four are located in his house. Also, one vehicle is allocated to his personal assistant who is not entitled to a vehicle. Besides, he is paid N500 thousand fuel allowance monthly for seven project vehicles to himself in the face of critical transportation challenges in states and zonal offices. The 2018 budget proposes additional N50million to procure another Toyota land cruiser for the ES. He has defiantly presented this item in the final draft against council directive. At the last council meeting the evidence submitted by Union petition was presented, he insisted the pool of vehicles were his entitlements as CEO. He then stormed out of the meeting.

8) Insubordinate Conduct by the ES
Council members, in particular the chairman, have been subjected to verbal assaults, unruly outbursts and various forms of unprofessional behavior by the ES, These include not limited but habitual lateness to council meetings. Some examples eloquently make our case here:

24th July, 2018 the ES arrived one hour late to the emergency budget review meeting holding next door to his office and offered no apology to council.

In August 2018, he unilaterally cancelled scheduled council meeting, rescheduled it and issued meeting notice to members without reference to chairman.

On October 17th, he sauntered to the meeting 35 minutes late, without apology, and demanded that his agenda, assembled without consultation, be accepted as the operated agenda for the meeting.

Explicit and wilful refusal to implement many council decision.

9) Failure to provide leadership for development of the strategic plan for the Agency despite Council’s Directives

As it stands, 13 years after establishment NHIS does not have a strategic plan. In March, 2018, Council directed management to work with stakeholders to develop a comprehensive 10 year strategic plan.

He argues that the strategic plan, management review and the staff audit are not his priority and is unable to appreciate the urgency and the significance of these critical management tools to reposition NHIS to achieve its mandate.

Headline

Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: Prioritize Existing Unfinished Projects, Peter Obi Tells FG

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Eric

Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has advised the federal government to prioritize existing unfinished projects spread across the country instead of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.

Obi, in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, stated that the project was a misplaced priority given the numerous unfinished roads throughout the country.

The former governor of Anambra State mentioned that the budget allocated to the Ministry of Works is insufficient for significant progress on the country’s various unfinished roads, much less their completion.

Obi therefore, advised that the government prioritize the existing infrastructural projects in the country before embarking on any new and colossal projects like the Lagos-Calabar super highway project.

“The Federal Ministry of Works 2024 capital budget of N892,461,262,656.00, additional funding from multilateral loan projects of N94,828,535,243.00, alongside other expected contributions from sources like the China-Exim Bank and the World Bank, will not be enough for serious work on all the critical roads, some of which I enumerated above, let alone their completion.

So, why embark on another huge project that will not be completed in the next 20 or 30 years?

“To do so will only exacerbate the problem of abandoned, uncompleted projects that are not contributing to economic growth and overall development.

“Therefore, while acknowledging the potential benefits of coastal superhighway infrastructure, I urge prioritization of our existing uncompleted projects. We must allocate resources towards repairing and completing existing infrastructure.

“In any development formula, the primary focus should be on completing and rehabilitating existing infrastructure rather than embarking on colossal new projects that may never reach completion within the next 30 years,” Obi said.

Back in March, the Federal Government began constructing the 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, designed to extend through 9 states with two spurs leading to the Northern States.

Recall that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, had earlier described the project as a fraud.

“Umahi had announced that Hitech would fully fund the project, and based on this, there was no competitive bidding. He (Umahi) then said that Hitech could only raise just 6% of the money for the pilot phase. This smacks of deceit,” Atiku said.

Headline

2027 Presidential Race: Opposition Parties Under Attack

Published

4 days ago

April 21, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

While it is still a whole three years before the next general election in 2027, The Boss has learnt that opposition parties in the countries are being muffled to pave the way for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to return to, and retain power.

From the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the Labour Party (LP), and down to the New Nigerian Peoples Paty (NNPP), crises have engulfed the rank and files, in what a source told this paper was the attempt and making of the ruling party, APC, to decimate, destabilize and make redundant the machineries of the opposition parties.

It is believed that by 2027, the apparatuses holding together the various opposition parties would have weakened irredeemably to the extent the country would seemingly nosedive into the inglorious one party state that every civil right advocate and democrats abhor.

It is alleged that all the crises in all the opposition parties are being engineered by the President Bola Tinubu-led ruling APC, with the hope of getting the fibres of their system weakened, thereby luring the members of the crisis-ridden parties into the APC.

Slightly one year after the last presidential election, the two major opposition platforms, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party, have separately been embroiled in a crisis of confidence which has diminished their capacity to provide viable opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The crises in both opposition parties got to a head. The Labour Party led by its national chairman Julius Abure held its much-opposed national convention which was boycotted by its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi; its only governor, Alex Otti of Abia State; federal and state lawmakers elected on its platform, and the organised Labour.

In the Labour Labour, members have been embroiled in endless battle of supremacy with a faction led by Mr. Apapa steadily contesting the leadership of Julius Abure.

Consequently, the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, reverence as a leader in the fold, noting that whatever the party faces presently, that Nigeria’s problems are far bigger than the crises in his party.

The LP has been embroiled in crises — ranging from allegations of misappropriation of funds, and leadership tussle, to calls for the resignation of the party’s national chairman.

TheCable reported that “On March 27, the LP conducted a national convention in Anambra state where Julius Abure was re-elected as its national chairman.

Obi did not attend the convention, fuelling speculations that he may be mulling over ditching the LP for another platform.

Speaking during an appearance on HaveYourSay247, an interactive online session hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo over the weekend, Obi said he is confident that the crises rocking the LP will soon be resolved amicably.

“Whatever is happening in the Labour Party is so minute compared to what is happening in the country,” Obi said.

“So, for me, it is something we will resolve amicably, and it is not anything to worry about. Let us worry about the country.

“Let us worry about how the average Nigerian would be able to have a means of livelihood to be able to eat, that should be our worry.”

Obi said he has no interest in being the party’s leader but only to make sure things are done properly.

“I don’t see what I do in politics as being the leader of any place or not. My position is that just like I always say, I am not desperate to be president of Nigeria, I am desperate to see Nigeria work because I know it can work,” he added.

“We have a more desperate situation. Parties are just a means to be able to contest elections. What is important is that being a leader of a party does not reduce the price of food.

In the PDP, the shenanigans of former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has practically kept the party in constant crisis with many observers concluding that the now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is working for the APC, and is just a mole in the PDP. Wike has denied the allegation, however,

But news filtered in last week as that the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NEC meeting on Thursday was not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

While political stakeholders concluded that the outcome of the Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan; every page of what finally transpired at the meeting pointed to the fact.

The much touted removal of the party chairman, who is believed to be a crony of the Abuja minister, Damagum, retained his seat, with his executives.

“It is very clear to everyone that a lot of money politics is being played to cajole many loyal members of the party, forcing them into frustration, and eventually it of the party. The option afterwards, will be the APC. This, will for all intent and purpose actualize the intended one party state as an APC agenda.

The Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso-led NNPP is not faring better either. The only governor under their ticket, Abba Kabir Yusuf, just had the confidence of their party on him withdrawn. He was fighting for his political life until suddenly it was announced the the APC in Kano has collapsed its structure into the NNPP.

“This is just another APC strategy to actualize their hidden intentions. Time will reveal the very sinister agenda they harboring,” an analyst said.

Much as 2027 is still three years away, but intrigues are in play to render Nigeria a one party state, and perpetuate the APC in power. The three other opposition parties are basically under attack to bring to pass this unpopular agenda.

Headline

Akwa Ibom Government, Governor Umo Eno Receive Top Honors at the 10th Wonders of the World Expo in Lagos

Published

4 days ago

April 21, 2024

Admin

The Akwa Ibom State Government and Governor Pastor Umo Eno were recognized with Travellers Awards at the 10th Wonders of the World Expo in Lagos for their sustained enhancement of infrastructure, support for local talent, and dedication to investment in the tourism sector. The ceremony took place at the National Museum in Onikan, Lagos.

While Akwa Ibom won the Most Active Tourism State of the Year, Governor Eno was adjudged the most Tourism-Friendly Governor of the Year at the event that had Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Lola Ade John in attendance.

According to Amb. Ikechi Uko, Founder/Publisher of ATQ Magazine, the organizers of the event which is in its tenth edition, Akwa Ibom State won the top prize “in recognition of its valiant and resourceful efforts to drive and sustain domestic tourism by promoting the industry.

‘In 2023, Akwa Ibom was one of the states that hosted World Tourism Day (WTD ) events. The state also organized the famous Christmas Unplugged, which featured music, food, and cultures from all 31 LGAs as well as ensured friendly policies.”

While hoping that the Travellers Awards would spur Akwa Ibom to do more to dominate the domestic tourism industry, the organizers hoped that the state would gradually evolve into one of Nigeria’s top international tourism destinations.

That was not all, the state Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Sir Charles Udoh was also recognized as one of the Top 100 Tourism Personalities in Nigeria for demonstrating exceptional leadership and innovation in the travel and tourism industry, while other Akwa Ibom indigenes and entity were also celebrated: Mrs. Ime Udo, Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor( Tourism) won Tourism Promoter of the Year, Favour Udo won Tourism Photographer of the Year, Loretta Effiong and Prince Uduak Sunday (Qua Tours) were listed among the Tourism Personalities of the Year and Ibom Air won Airline of the Year International.

In his remarks, Sir Charles Udoh, who represented the Governor at the event, thanked the organizers for the awards and noted that Akwa Ibom is certainly enjoying the golden era when it comes to tourism development. He stated that Governor Umo Eno is very keen on making Akwa Ibom a leading tourism destination with his programmes and policies.

He revealed that with the new Victor Attah International Airport nearing completion, the purchase of a ferry for the Oron-Calabar route, new developments along its coastline and the restoration work that will be done at all its major tourism sites, Akwa Ibom is well on the way to becoming the number one destination for all domestic and foreign tourists.

In her speech, Tourism Minister, Mrs. Ade John hailed the organizers for hosting the Expo, where practitioners were lectured by top experts while also rewarding those who have excelled in the past year.

She affirmed that her ministry is open to partnership with public and private sector operators, adding that tourism development can only be successful through collaborative efforts.

The event, which attracted leading and budding tourism professionals, also featured interactive and entertainment sessions.

Apart from Sir Charles Udoh and Mrs. Ime Udo, the Akwa Ibom State delegation, also included: Mr. Michael Effiong James, Senior Special Assistant (Lagos Liaison) to Governor, Mrs. Eme Bassey, Special Assistant to Governor (Lagos Liaison) and Akparawa John Offiong, Deputy Director ( Culture) Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

More photos below: