₦airaland Forum

Na fake news go keel you lots. Tueh!

Usman Yusuf was finally eased out of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) after his indictment by a panel led by Hassan Bukar which found him guilty of breaching provisions of the Public Procurement Act.

But what many people are not privy to are the details of the misdemeanours that, according to the panel’s report, characterized his very short stint at the agency and which if pursued may deny him a chance to hold public office in the future.

So much has been said about Usman Yusuf’s temperament which led to him having multiple conflicts with virtually everyone from the staff and workers union to the then health minister, Professor Isaac Adewole, whom he not only disrespected, but also sued for placing him on suspension.

This could easily be attributed to his zero knowledge of the norms of the public sector and insiders at NHIS would later say he had little patience to learn the ropes especially in a field he neither had absolutely no knowledge of, nor administrative experience to make a lasting impact.

So like a bull in a China shop, the man who today postures as a critic of President Muhammadu Buhari ran the NHIS as a fiefdom and took decisions without a recourse to extant laws.

Within few months of heading the health financing agency, Usman had allegedly engaged in misdemeanors that could easily be ranked as the worst in NHIS history. It was therefore not surprising that he had the distinction of having the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences Commission (ICPC) beaming the searchlight on his activities just about the time he should be marking his first year in office.

The EFCC specifically stated that it was investigating suspected cases of fraud and misappropriation totalling N919m levelled against Yusuf during his tenure as the executive secretary of the NHIS between July, 2016 and July, 2017.

In its letter, with reference number CR: 3000/EFCC/ABJ/CTGI.2/VOL.15/ 237, and signed by its Director of Operations, Umar Abba, for the Acting Chairman, the commission noted that it was seeking information on the following:

a. “All necessary documents relating to local and international training programmes sponsored by the scheme from July 2016 to July 2017, all documents relating to payment made to Katamaya First Call Hospital.

b. “All procurement documents relating to the e-library project of the NHIS. Documents relating to all NHIS-sponsored foreign trips embarked upon by the suspended executive secretary.

c. “All payments relating to the fuelling of the suspended secretary’s official vehicles. Disbursement of NEED assessment funds between July 2016 and July 2017.”

This was after a 21-member administrative panel set up by the ministry of health had found Yusuf culpable of the allegation of fraudulent use of N860 million for staff training without due process.

And talking about due process, the former ES had demonstrated his disdain for it by awarding a media consultancy contract of N46,798,512 and another one of N17,500,000 for Strategic training on Communication to Lubekh Nigeria Ltd, a company registered as a meat processing company.

It is interesting to note that the majority shares in that firm belonged to one Alhaji Kabiru Yusuf Yar’Adua who is said to be Yusuf’s brother. And as if that was not enough, he seconded one Hassan Kabiru, his nephew (Alhaji Kabiru’s son) to the procurement department, a move many say was intended to circumvent and manipulate procurement procedure.

Back to the issue of training which is also a subject of investigations, the committee that first investigated Yusuf wondered how payment vouchers showed 1,992 members of staff, yet the total number of staff in NHIS is 1,360.

On Yusuf’s watch, it was not strange for payments to be made without supporting documents and there are many instances of this, including the payment to training consultants without the agency raising a single payment voucher. Instead, their payments were said to have been lumped with participants training allowances and a composite voucher raised in the name of one of the participants, making it look like a normal staff claim.

So, saying Usman Yusuf mismanaged a critical agency like the NHIS that is meant to solve problems is stating the obvious.

Insiders alleged that he ran the scheme like a dictator, without a recourse to the laws, and consistently broke protocols and financial regulations.

In the midst of all these, he purportedly bragged to be ‘untouchable’ and gave the impression that he had the backing of the President, especially as he is also from Katsina state

So it is surprising watching him going from one forum to the other, and one TV station to the other, lampooning President Buhari and backing Sheik Gumi’s ill-advised mission to get the Presidency to provide a Niger Delta-like amnesty for bandits who have now been designated as terrorists.

It is even funny watching him on a viral video taking pot shots at the President in Kaduna in October last year and hearing him saying if a tenth of Nigeria’s defence spending is handed to him, the country would be a safer place.

Nothing could be more entertaining when one considers how the former NHIS ES was not able to efficiently manage the funds of a government agency, yet is boastful of his ability to better handle billions of dollars.

In recommending his sack, the committee that investigated him said the NHIS boss deserved to be dismissed for failing to explore internal administrative remedies before suing the then Minister of Health, the Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, and the NHIS

Though the panel recommended Mr Yusuf’s dismissal, it did not call for his prosecution in what is clearly a soft landing considering the alleged sleaze and financial malfeasances on his watch.

But in the light of revelation that EFCC and ICPC have not closed his file, it would not be out of place to demand that the two anti graft agencies expedite action in order for Yusuf to have his day in court.

This is the best way to send a clear message to all public officers, including those like the former NHIS boss, who had a habit of dropping the President’s name, that there is indeed no sacred cow as far as the anti corruption crusade is concerned.


Dapo Okubanjo is a journalist and public affairs analyst

He comes across as a no nonsense critic of President Muhammadu Buhari and his administration,at least that is the impression he is keen to present to Nigerians more than three years after his eventful but totally disastrous stint as the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme NHIS.

From relative obscurity,the President announced him alongside Dr Sani Aliyu of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA),Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and two others as heads of 5 strategic health institutions on July 6 2016.

In his official curriculum vitae with which he got the job, Usman Yusuf claimed that his role and affiliation at the time, was Professor of Paediatrics in the division of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation at the Saint Jude Research Hospital Memphis Tennessee.

But it is believed that he had been out of job since 2012 that he returned to Nigeria. Those who knew him back then are now saying that he used to depend on the magnanimity of a friend who owned Abuja clinic for his livelihood.

This new revelation is at variance with claims in his CV that he was an Associate Professor of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation at St Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis Tennessee from October 2002 till when his appointment was announced in 2016.

A thorough check showed that the hospital exists in reality and according to information on its website, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was founded in 1962 and is a pediatric treatment and research facility focused on children's catastrophic diseases, particularly leukemia and other cancers.

And whereas 'Professor' Yusuf listed his workplace address as 332 North Lauderdale street Memphis,TN 38205-2791, the officially listed location off the hospital is 262 Danny Thomas Place Memphis, TN, 38105-3678 USA

While listing his educational qualifications,he mentioned professional bodies including the American Academy of Paediatrics from 1995 to 1997 and a non existent American Academy of Paediatric Hematology & Oncology between 1995 and 1997.

But In reality,there is an American Society of Paediatric Hematology & Oncology which prides itself as the "only organization uniquely dedicated to the professional development and interests of subspecialists in pediatric hematology/oncology."

it is a membership body for specialists in the field 'Professor' Yusuf is supposedly an expert in,but there are no indications that he is a member ad the one he listed in his CV as part of his educational qualifications does not appear to exist.

And in case any one is tempted to dismiss those revelations with a wave of the hand, how about the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Division of the St Jude Children's Hospital where Yusuf claimed to have worked from October 2002 till 2016 which was neither listed as a department nor a division of the children hospital?

The closest departments to this are the Department of Hematology which is one of 22 in the hospital, and Oncology which has 7 divisions but none is Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation where Yusuf claimed he worked as a Professor of Paediatrics.

Judging from his CV, it seems like 'Professor' Yusuf is the only Professor there because the top staff at St Jude either have MD attached to their names or PhD and there is no sign that he even had a PhD or was even at a university where he could have have risen or attain the level of a Professor.

So with these glaring gaps, it would not be out of place to could question whether he is really who he claims to be in the CV he used to get the NHIS appointment in 2016.

That could also be part of the reason he demonstrated what many stakeholders in the Health care sector have described as gross incompetence in his barely one year stint at NHIS during which he left the agency worse than he met it.

There may be doubts about his capacity for the job but what was not in doubt in his time at the helm of affairs at the agency was his capacity to have run-ins with virtually everyone he had contact with aside from the allegations that dogged his one-year stay in an office with a five-year tenure.

Yusuf was first suspended by the then Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, on July 6, 2017, for alleged corruption, maladministration and mismanagement of resources. He was later recalled by President Buhari, exactly seven months later, on February 6, 2018.

Before then he had taken the unprecedented step of lambasting the minister as not competent to suspend him.

In his response to the minister, Yusuf said, “By virtue of the NHIS Act particularly section 4 and 8 thereof, my appointment and removal from office whether by way of suspension or otherwise is at the instance of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Except removed from office by the president under circumstances specified in the NHIS Act, my appointment is for a period of five years subject to further term of the same period at the discretion of the president.

Indeed the President allowed his return to the job to allow due process to prevail especially as the petitions that paved way for his suspension were with the anti graft agencies

So it was not a surprise that the NHIS Governing Council led by Professor Ifenne Enyanatu, later slammed an indefinite suspension on Yusuf on Oct. 18 over similar allegations of fraud.

Not quite long after, the Presidency asked him to proceed on an administrative leave to allow for investigations into the allegations and subsequently set up a 7-man panel led to carry out the probe.

At the end of the investigation,the panel led by Hassan Bukar, found Yusuf guilty of breaching provisions of the Public Procurement Act and recommended that his appointment be terminated in the report presented to the President on December 24, 2018.

The report reads: “Relieve the executive secretary of his appointment. Justification: Inability to work in harmony with all the relevant stakeholders in the scheme for the attainment of the scheme’s mandate.

“Established cases of infractions of the Public Service Rules, i.e. insubordination and refusal to carry out lawful instructions from superior authorities (governing council and the Federal Ministry of Health) contrary to PSR Rule 030301 (0), unauthorised public utterances contrary to Rule 030421 (id), and relevant service-wide circulars.

“Established cases of infraction of the following provisions of the Public Procurement Act: Sections 16(6) and 32(7).

“Infraction of Rule 3125(i) (a) and (b) of the Financial Regulations.

“Embarrassed government through unguarded social media comments.”

The panel also recommended the dissolution of the NHIS  governing council.

“Dissolve the governing council. Justification: The panel observed the role of the governing council in the present imbroglio and noted from the interactions that the council has become factionalised and is incapable of providing the required leadership for the scheme.

“The governing council embarrassed the government by exceeding its mandate when it suspended the executive secretary.”

It is also on record that Yusuf directed expletives at the then Health minister in an interview with Punch newspapers even while on suspension.He specific said "F**k the minister"

He made similar comments when another journalist contacted him by phone to react to 2017 audit report, which indicted him

His words: “F**k PREMIUM TIMES. F**k the Auditor General, go ahead and write that.”

It is however stunning that newspapers that reported all his excesses as well as his indictment are among same media propping him up as a Buhari critic even when his record of service is not something any self-effacing individual should be proud of.



*Dapo Okubanjo was a member of the media committee of the 2019 Presidential Campaign Council (PCC)*