Unending crises in NHIS

A recent federal government audit uncovers irregularities in Nigeria’s health insurance regulatory agency. Just when Nigeria thought an end has come to crises that rocked the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which led to the dismissal of the former Executive Secretary, Prof Usman Yusuf, the Annual Report of the its accounts from the Office of […]

A recent federal government audit uncovers irregularities in Nigeria’s health insurance regulatory agency.

Just when Nigeria thought an end has come to crises that rocked the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which led to the dismissal of the former Executive Secretary, Prof Usman Yusuf, the Annual Report of the its accounts from the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAGF) has revealed how over N6.8 billion was squandered on illegal allowances between 2016 and 2017.

The report revealed that the staff and management of NHIS between 2016 and 2017 helped themselves with several “irregular” and unapproved allowances to the tune of N6.8 billion.

According to the 2017 Annual Audit, these infractions were recorded during the reign of Prof Yusuf, who was sacked after an investigation of alleged fraud against him was submitted to the office of the Secretary to the Government of Federation, Boss Mustapha.

The Audit opened up a new phase to other allegations of fraud that bedeviled the scheme in the past as the 2017 OAGF report listed irregular allowances within the period under review enjoyed by staff of the scheme to include Upfront Allowance, Upfront differential Allowance, 13th Month Salary Allowance, Pre-retirement Overseas Training Allowance and Sitting Allowance.

These payments to the tune of N4.9 billion violated Public Service Rule 130102, as they are not part of the allowances listed as payable to officers in the Federal Public Service, the report found.

The OAGF submission revealed that these allowances were paid without providing approvals of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, contravening the act of the commission.

The report also revealed duplication of payment for a workshop dated 5th January 2015 which stated that “Cost of flight Ticket (Lagos-Istanbul and Istanbul – Lagos and the remaining expenses (Accommodation, Lunch and Dinner, Domestic Transportation, City Transfers) of the Health Delegation would be met by the council.” Since the organizer provided for all logistics, the payment for Estacode, Air-tickets, others, constitutes a duplication.

“Prof Yusuf was then requested to recover the sum of N3,915,162.00 from the beneficiary and forward evidence of recovery for verification.

“The Scheme paid the sum of N111,054,206.58 as 13th month salary to staff in 2015, without deducting PAYE tax and a similar report was made in 2014 when the sum of N100,958,369.61 paid as 13th month salary was equally not subjected to tax, this action was stated to contravened  the Personal Income Tax Act, 2011 (as amended).”

On property purchase, in the process of examining payment voucher no. NHIS/ADM/0002/2015 dated 12th January, 2015, for the purchase and rehabilitation/renovation of property/uncompleted Building for NHIS Corporate Head Office, it was revealed that the purchase of the Building for N990,000,000.00 was awarded by the Ministerial Tenders Board. The contract amount is above the official limit of the Ministerial Tenders Board and should have been awarded by the Federal Executive Council.  During a visit to the property, it was observed that the purchased property was only at foundation level hence the cost of the property appeared inflated.

Meanwhile, the sum of N49,500,000.00 was paid as Agency commission on the purchase of the property.  However, 10 per cent WHT and VAT amounting to N4,950,000.00 were not deducted on the commission. This action resulted in overpayment to the consultant, loss of government revenue and violation of relevant Tax laws, including Financial Regulation 234(iii).

Also, the total interest that accrued from Fixed Deposit investments made with various Banks by the Scheme amounted to N3,262,003,850billion while Interest on Treasury Bills was N783,557,599million during the year 2015.

Prof Yusuf was then requested to provide evidence of the remittance of all the accrued interests totaling N4,045,561,449.20 to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, as well as adduce reasons for the disparities in the rates of returns on the fixed term deposits.

It was discovered that the sum of N108,825,756.00 was spent as donations during the year 2015.  The basis for some of these donations was not clear and could not be explained.  It is therefore difficult to establish that some of these donations were made in the overall interest of the Scheme.

The former Executive Secretary was also asked to justify the expenditure of such an amount on donations as well as disclose the purpose of the donations.

The former NHIS boss has denied any wrongdoing.

Prof Yusuf was sacked in June, 2019 after a probe panel indicted him of gross misconduct at NHIS. But the scheme has since moved on with its activities since the new Executive Secretary, Prof Muhammed Sambo took over the mantle of leadership in July 2019.

Prof Sambo who revealed his three-point agenda for the scheme said, he would resolve the crises that have beset the scheme since inception and restore public confidence in it.

He listed the three-point agenda as, restoring value system that will transform NHIS into a credible result driven organization, engendering transparency and accountability in the entire operation of the scheme and accelerating the drive towards achieving access to quality healthcare for all Nigerians.

All efforts to get the reaction of NHIS on the OAGF report proved abortive as calls and sms put across to the head, communication, Ayo Osinlu, was not responded to.