Skip to main content

NSITF claims termites ‘ate’ payment vouchers as senate probes N17bn spending

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has failed to justify the spending of N17.16 billion in 2013 with the required documents.


Appearing before the senate committee on public accounts on Friday, the agency’s management claimed that some of the payment vouchers have been eaten up by termites.

The N17.158 billion, as stated in the 2018 audit report of the office of the auditor-general of the federation, was the total amount transferred by NSITF from its Skye (now Polaris Bank) and First Bank accounts into various untraceable accounts belonging to individuals and companies from January to December 2013.

“The management of the NSITF as shown in statements of Account No. 1750011691 with Skye Bank Plc, for the period January 2013 to December 20, 2013, and Statements of Account No. 2001754610 with First Bank Plc for the period January 7, 2013 to February 28, 2013, transferred amounts totalling N 17,158,883,034.69 billion to some persons and companies from these accounts,” the query reads. “However, payment vouchers relating to the transfers together with their supporting documents were not provided for audit. Consequently, the purpose(s) for the transfers could not be authenticated.

“These are in violation of financial rule 601 which states that, ‘All payment entries in the cashbook/accounts shall be vouched for on one of the prescribed treasury forms. Vouchers shall be made out in favour of the person or persons to whom the money is actually due.

“Under no circumstances shall a cheque be raised, or cash paid for services for which a voucher has not been raised.”. But the present and past management of the NSITF could not offer any satisfactory explanations for the undocumented multiple transfers.

The officers in charge of the agency in 2013 told the committee that they left documents like vouchers behind.

But Michael Akabogu, managing director of NSITF, said that no documents of such were in their kitty.

“The container the said documents were kept by past management has not only been beaten by rains over the years but even possibly being eaten up by termites,” Akabogu said.


“As directed by this committee, I told the past management officers about the need for them to help us out in answering this query with necessary documents which have not been made available for us.”

In his submissions, Umar Munir Abubakar, the managing director of NSITF from 2010 to 2016, said that he was unaware of the query and had no explanations for it since the audit was not carried out during his tenure.

Adebayo Somefun, who was the head of the agency from May 2017 to July 2020, said that those in the account section should be able to trace the documents which the current general manager of finance alleged to have been locked up in an abandoned container within the premises of the agency in Abuja.

Irked by the submissions of the past and present NSITF officials, Mathew Urhoghide, chairman of the committee, ordered them to reappear before the committee with all the requested evidential documents unfailingly on Thursday, September 22, 2022.... 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Government to take greater control of Liverpool city council

Intervention expanded to include financial decisions and governance after report calls for urgent reform.  The government’s intervention in the running of Liverpool city council is to be expanded to include governance and financial decision-making. It comes after the publication of another critical report on the local authority by four commissioners appointed last year to work with the council staff in key areas after an inspection. The report, published on Friday and addressed to the communities secretary, Greg Clark, said certain services were “failing” and in need of “urgent reform”. It warns that poor performance in procurement, finance and auditing are limiting the “council’s ability to operate at a crucial time” and called for an added role of “finance commissioner”.  It comes after a report in June revealed that Liverpool city council’s failure to renew contracts across a number of services could cost it millions. Clark, in a letter to the commissioners, rai...
Post a Comment
Read more

Elon Musk subpoenas former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in takeover dispute

Elon Musk has subpoenaed his friend and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as part of an effort to back out of his $44bn agreement to acquire the social media platform. The subpoena was revealed in a court document on Monday. Musk and Twitter are embroiled in a legal battle after the billionaire businessman offered to buy the company – then tried to back out, claiming that Twitter had failed to provide adequate information about the number of fake, or “spam bot”, accounts on the platform. Twitter argues that Musk’s reasons for backing out are just a cover for buyer’s remorse.  Twitter and Musk are headed for a 17 October trial in Delaware that should determine whether or not the company can force him to go through with the acquisition. In recent weeks, Twitter has subpoenaed a host of tech investors and entrepreneurs connected to Musk, including the prominent venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and David Sacks, the founding chief operating officer of PayPal.  Bot and sp...
Post a Comment
Read more

Liverpool shooting: Girl, 9, shot dead and two injured

A nine-year-old girl has died after being shot in Liverpool. An unknown man was reported to have fired a gun inside a house in the Knotty Ash area at 22:00 BST on Monday. The girl was shot in the chest and died in hospital. A man also suffered gunshot wounds to his body and a woman was shot in the hand. Merseyside Police has put a cordon in place as officers hunt the gunman. Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said the shooting was "truly shocking".  "No parent should ever have to suffer the loss of a child in these dreadful circumstances," she said. "This crime is abhorrent and our communities must come forward and tell us who is responsible. "This cowardly individual does not deserve to be walking the streets and I would urge those who know anything to speak to us and tell us what they know so that we can put the person responsible behind bars where they belong." The girl's next of kin has been informed. The injured man and woman we...
Post a Comment
Read more