There was protest at the headquarters of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as the newly reinstated Executive Secretary, Prof. Yusuf Usman resumed work on Thursday.
The workers under the aegis of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria and the Joint Health Sector Union during protest demanded that Yusuf’s reinstatement be reversed while investigations on allegations levelled against him continue.
According to the workers, the reinstatement of Yusuf would impede his investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The protest began shortly after Yusuf resumed at the headquarters of the agency in Abuja.
Confirming the Executive Secretary’s resumption, Head, Media and Public Relations of NHIS, Ayo Osinlu said: “He has resumed work but has not held any management meeting.”
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday reinstated Yusuf exactly six months after he was suspended by the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, following allegations of gross misconduct.
Yusuf, 54, took over the state-run health insurance provider on July 29, 2016.
But his reign at the agency has been fraught with graft controversies.
Some staff described Yusuf’s leadership as causing disaffection and low morale in the system.
The chairman, association of senior civil servant NHIS chapter, Razaq Omomeji accused Executive Secretary of bringing someone born in 1984 to become an assistant director in the scheme.
Omomeji said Yusuf, a professor has poor knowledge on the management of the scheme.
Alowuyi Kayode, Chairman Medical and Health Association Union, also accused Yusuf of using divide and rule system to transfer staff indiscriminately.
“We believe that this government came to fight corruption. We also believe that whoever must come to equity must come with clean hands. Prof Yusuf’s reinstatement behoves much to be desired. Presently he is being investigated by the EFCC and ICPC, so we are appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to wait for the report of this investigation to be concluded before any further action,” Kayode said.
“If the man is giving a clean slate then he can return but as is it now, all his activities for the past one year has been that of ethnicity, tribalism, religiosity and nepotism. Imaging him transferring over 40 per cent of the staff outside Abuja and replacing them with 300 NYSC members. It leaves much to be desired, so we are appealing to this government as a union of NHIS to reverse this recall while investigation with EFCC and ICPC continues,” he added.
There has been a rash of reactions from Nigerians since the news of Yusuf’s reinstatement broke.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, explained that Yusuf’s recall will not stop any corruption investigation by anti-graft agencies.
Though the presidency has not spoken official on the basis for his reinstatement, a source at the Presidential Villa said the suspended executive secretary was reinstated because the president believes the allegations against him are yet to be proven.
The source said the committee constituted by the minister to investigate Yusuf was neither independent nor free from bias.
“Barely one year into his assumption of office, Professor Usman was suspended by the Minister of health on the strength of a petition by the United Youth Alliance Against Corruption, UYAC and Association of Senior Civil Servants.
“The Minister, relying on the petition, constituted a 17-man committee under the headship of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry to look into the petition by this body of Civil servants. Out of the 17 members of the committee, 16 of them were staff of the Ministry while one member was from the Department of State Services (DSS). The request for a nomination from the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) was declined because they feared a conflict of interest.
“From the composition of the committee, it was obvious that the committee was neither independent nor free from biases.
“Some of the allegations brought against the Executive Secretary by the UYAC could not be substantiated in 20 of the 23 allegations as no evidence was brought forward. “Others were obviously concocted as there were evident alterations and mix-ups in dates on some of the petitions,” the source said.
He said it is clear from the investigation that the presidency identified an acute lack of capacity in the NHIS as an organisation and unless a new set of competent managers are found and recruited, the objectives of setting up of the NHIS may remain a mirage.
“This is why the minister was directed to work with the Executive Secretary to redress some of the identified shortcomings within the organisations to avoid a breakdown of one of the federal government’s flagship programmes and truncate the intention of government to expand the scope of beneficiaries of health insurance scheme and indeed broaden government’s efforts in repositioning the health sector.”
