The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has told the Senate that termites have eaten most of the vouchers containing details of how N17.158 billion yet to be accounted for was spent.
The N17.158 billion, as stated in the 2018 audit report, was the total amount of money transferred by NSITF from its Skye Bank and First Bank accounts into various untraceable accounts belonging to individuals and companies from January to December 2013.
The auditor-general’s office had in the 2018 audit report raised 50 different queries bordering on alleged misappropriation of funds by management of the agency, which is under probe by the Senate committee on Public Accounts.
Specifically, on the N17.158billion unsubstantiated transfers made by NSITF , the query reads: “Management of NSITF as shown in statements of Account No. 1750011691 with Skye bank plc, for the period 1st January, 2013 to 20th December, 2013, and Statements of Account No.2001754610 with First Bank Plc for the period 7th January, 2013 to 28th February, 2013, transferred amounts totalling N 17,158,883,034.69billion to some persons and companies from these accounts.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee, Urhoghide, had summoned and interviewed NSITF’s past and present managements on where the said N17.158 billion was transferred to between January and December 2013.
It was learnt that no official of the former management could offer satisfactory explanation on the alleged multiple transfers with necessary documents.
Members of management in charge of the agency in 2013 had told the committee that relevant cash vouchers pertaining to the transactions were left behind by them.
But the current NSITF Managing Director, Dr. Michael Akabogu, was said to have claimed that no such documents were in the organisation’s custody.
“The container the said documents were kept by past management has not only been beaten by rains over the years but even possibly been eaten up by termites.
“As directed by this committee, I told the past management officers on the need for them to help us out in answering this query with necessary documents which have not been made available for us,” Akabogu allegedly said.
The Managing Director of NSITF from 2010 to 2016, Mallam Umar Munir Abubakar, allegedly claimed that he was aware of the query and had no explanations to render since the audit exercise was not carried out during his tenure.
But his successor, Mr. Adebayo Somefun, who was head of the agency from May 2017 to July 2020, allegedly insisted that those in the agency’s account section should be able to trace the documents.
But the current General Manager Finance of the agency allegedly said that the container in question had been under lock and key and abandoned in an isolated area within the premises of the organisation in Abuja.
In his ruling, Urhoghide expressed worry over the development and ordered both members of past and present management of the NSITF to re-appear before the panel with all necessary evidence concerning the transactions unfailingly on Thursday, September 22, 2022.
