Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has said that they are committed to accountability and transparency in running its activities.
A statement issued by general manage/head corporate affairs, Ijeoma Oji-Okoronkwo, said it attention is drawn to the purported call by some staff of the Fund allegedly requesting an immediate probe of the agency by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) as well as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“This call is based on a breakdown of the ICPC infographic showing that 52 agencies which includes NSITF, National Broadcasting Commission, Federal Civil Service Commission, Court of Appeal, National Hospital and several other Government agencies, were identified as non-responsive implying that these agencies did not respond to enquiries on them.
“The ICPC consequently marked them as “High Corruption Risk (HCR)” and were “flagged for the attention of the public and for further inquiries and actions”.
“The allegation of corruption against the Fund which was taken out of context to suit a negative purpose is therefore unfounded and an attempt to distract the management from its commitments to carrying out its mandates.
“Although NSITF in the past has had to deal with several negative press attributed to the past board and some members of management of the Fund, the new board (put up 2019) and the new management under the administration of president Muhammadu Buhari and the supervision of the minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige have been piloting the affairs of the Fund in line with all relevant Laws, regulations and guidelines, ” the statement said.
According to NSITF, the current leadership runs an open door policy and has not defaulted in the fund’s mandate and the presidential directives on transparency and accountability.
“However, we take any accusations of corruption very seriously and will maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards such behavior as our books are open and our records are there to speak for us.
“On the same premise, we reiterate that the alleged complaints by ‘Anonymous staff’ are more imaginary than real. They are the work of a few who are disgruntled that due process is now here and believe that continuous turmoil and confusion in the organisation will one way or the other benefit them. We therefore put it on record that our records are available. The ICPC which has the mandate of carrying out system reviews for MDAs is invited to do a thorough and fair system study of the Fund to enable the Fund identify gaps, build more robust internal controls and systems to prevent and detect instances of corruption and report the same,” it said.
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