Sack NHIS Executive Secretary now, Labour Tells Buhari

ALARMED by the audacity of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof Usman Yusuf, Organised Labour under the auspices of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to relieve Professor Yusuf of his appointment to avoid sending the wrong signal to the outside world as regards the anti-corruption war of the administration.

In a press statement issued in on Wednesday, the ASCSN Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, expressed worry that the impunity with which Professor Yusuf bull-dozed his way to resume office with armed security details after he was suspended by the Governing Council of the Scheme for financial impropriety is capable of sending wrong signals to the general public particularly the outside world that those who are close to Mr President are at liberty to indulge in all manner of impunity without anybody holding them accountable.

“Professor Yusuf may think that his primordial affinity with the President because they hail from Katsina State is a license for him to be lawless,” the Union stated.

According to the ASCSN, Professor Yusuf was suspended last week by the Governing Council of the Scheme for alleged financial scams including carting away of office equipments of the NHIS to his residence, padding of the budget of the Scheme, an attempt to illegally invest N30 billion in FGN bonds, and placing his relatives in strategic offices for purposes of siphoning funds through dubious contract awards.

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Other infractions are alleged inflation of biometric capturing machines, punitive posting out of Union officials from the NHIS headquarters to create fertile grounds for his financial malpractices, insubordination and contempt for the Minister of Health and members of the Governing Council of the Scheme.

The Union recalled that last year, Professor Yusuf was also suspended by the Health Minister, Professor Isaac Adewole after an Administrative Panel of Enquiry found him guilty of fraud only for him to be reinstated by President Buhari and all the investigation that was ongoing suspended.

“This unfortunate action of the Presidency fueled the audacity of Professor Yusuf who now sees himself as a demigod who cannot be subjected to Public Service Rules and corporate best practices.

“This is why the Katsina born Professor continues to tell those who care to listen that he cannot report to the Health Minister or the NHIS Governing Council but deals directly with President Buhari. This is very unfortunate in a democratic society which is supposed to be governed by rules and due process,” the Union regretted.

The ASCSN, therefore, called on President Buhari to terminate the appointment of Professor Yusuf immediately not only to prove that Mr President is not backing his penchant for questionable transactions but more importantly to restore sanity to the National Health Insurance Scheme in the interest of the Nigerian project.