The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has dismissed the allegation of award of frivolous projects, insisting that all contracts by the Fund were properly evaluated, awarded and executed in line with due process, passing through advisements and necessary approvals from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
The management also re-stated commitment to the implementation of a new salary structure that would be free of erroneous computations, and critically reflective of the financial reality in the fund, with full participation of the two staff unions in the agency.
NSITF General Manager Corporate Affairs Mrs. Ijeoma Oji-Okoronkwo said this in a statement issued in Abuja.
She said it was “unfortunate that the staff union was influenced and misguided into a needless disruption of the activities in the agency, today 16th March , 2023 by the fund’s leadership that was shoved out for incompetence, in alliance with the national leadership of Association of Senior Staff of Banks Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) making true its earlier threat, to breach industrial peace in the fund.”
“We are committed to transparency in discharging our responsibilities. We have no option,” Okoronkwo said.
Addressing the claims raised by the union, the Fund stated that “the allegation of frivolous and white elephants projects being awarded and implemented are unfounded, as every contract goes through a laid down process, including NEEDS assessment before bidding.
“Every contract in the fund is first evaluated to determine its impacts and usefulness before bidding. Indeed, the current E-NSITF is in line with the Federal Government mandate on e-business and thus, received all the necessary endorsement up to the Federal Executive Council(FEC) before its implementation.
“As a matter of fact , the E-NSITF has been on the drawing board since 2015 but it took the rejuvenated management and the parent Ministry to take it head on in 2020 in line with Federal Executive Council directive.
“What’s more? The FEC contract price came with a BPE review that saved a lot of money for the government and the fund.
“Curiously , the same chief that executed this procurement , is crying wolf because his favoured contractor lost out in the bid.
“Besides, the new salary structure earlier approved was found to be riddled with errors and replete with vague details, hence, necessitating clarification that will require time for proper computation which is being handled by the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) that has promised to correct the anomalies and re-issue a 2023 wage structure that will still take effect from January 2023.
“NSIWC and the management of the NSITF are re-scheduled to conclude its meeting next week before this riotous picketing, stopping management members from entering their offices.
“It is to our chagrin that the same union which is part of the review of the said salary structure, already withdrawn by the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission(NSIWC) is the one calling out members for action on the same issue.”
The statement further said the management did not demote any staff as alleged by the union, but rather r took step to correct the anomaly in the salary structure observed by the NSIWC.
On the alleged non-promotion of staff as well as recruitment of new staff into the management cadre, the fund noted that “a total of one hundred and forty-five staff members were promoted to the management cadre while over 600 non-management staff were also promoted in the last two promotion exercises based on performance.”
