*Says ‘Former Management Stole N48bn Without Paying Salaries, Allowances’

ABUJA- Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity Sen. Chris Ngige on Tuesday joined issues with the suspended Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Investment Trust Funds (NSITF), Mr Adebayo Somefun, former executive directors of the agency and some other officials saying that their suspension was well deserved.

The Minister spoke at the second day of the House of Representatives Investigative hearing on ‘the Arbitrary Breach of Presidential Directives on the Suspension of Top Management and Executive Committee Members of the NSITF and other Government Agencies by Ministers at the National Assembly’.

He told the lawmakers that the suspended MD and other members of the executive committee of the agency siphoned a whopping N48bn without payment of salaries, allowances and other emoluments of the staff of the NSITF.

Ngige told the House Ad-hoc Committee that the suspension is a normal disciplinary administrative procedure to deal with issues of corruption and lack of transparency in public service.

He further hinted that there was a preliminary investigative report by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), that the sum of N48 billion had been stolen from the coffers of the agency and investigations showed that the suspended officials were guilty.

According to him, “the EFCC when they gave me their report discovered that there were unbridled sleaze of N48 billion stolen through illegal contracts”.

“As I speak to you, a past chairman of the NSITF has forfeited N46 million to the federal government. This is the situation I inherited. I requested that the EFCC should give me update”, he said.

Speaking further, the ex-governor said that the fedefal government appointed the suspended MD and other officials and he became insolvent, adding that they were owing contractors and employees of the agency for many years.

Asked whether the suspension was approved by the President, he said that he got the presidential approval to sack the officials and showed the approval document which he said was a classified one.

Ngige also told the probe panel that the suspended officials breached the public service rules as more fraud were discovered by EFCC which noted they they operated many accounts.

He added that the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation’s report had shown that the MD and the other officials had refused to submit audited accounts of the agency to the Auditor-General as stipulated by law.

Prior to the engagement with the lawmakers, Ngige had told the panel that his reputation had been badly injured by the motion by a committee member Hon.James Faleke who raised the motion on the need to investigate the matter on the floor of the House.

He accused the lawmaker of damaging his reputation and demanded that he rescuse himself from the investigation.

But the Committee Chairman Hon. Miriam Onuoha had implored the Minister and other interested parties on the matter to allow the panel handle the issue dispassionately.

She pleaded that the the Committee be allowed to probe the matter and assured that the invited persons would be given opportunities to state their grievances.
https://www.independent.ng/ngige-bombs-suspended-nsitf-md-ex-directors/
Lalasticlala
Mynd44

Hmmmmm

Ok

Bomb with dynamite or nuke?

I cannot say anything

Ngige Nwoke ike!
Odi mkpumkpu eme ile!
Onyiri mmagba na Awka.
Atakata agbuo 1 of Igboland

He told the lawmakers that the suspended MD and other members of the executive committee of the agency siphoned a whopping N48bn without payment of salaries, allowances and other emoluments of the staff of the NSITF.

Another one ...

Abeg shift make I faint