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EFCC, ICPC May Go after Doctors for Fraudulently Collecting N540m Training Allowance
The federal government is considering dragging some medical doctors through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for illegally collecting medical training allowances meant for House Officers on residency training programme in 2020, to the tune of N540 million.
The move came as THISDAY learnt that the government had released N4.8 billion for the 2021 residency training programme.
Reliable sources at the Federal Ministry of Health and Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment told THISDAY at the weekend that the health ministry was considering reporting the doctors, who failed to refund the illegal payment to the treasury, to the anti-corruption agencies.
The source said there were three categories of medical officers involved in the scam, including some consultant doctors.
The source also said the government had accused the managements of some of the Teaching Hospitals of allegedly smuggling names of those who had completed their residency training programme into the list of House Officers that received payment from the medical training fund in 2020.
According to the source, though the affected doctors had promised to refund the money, they were yet to do so, thereby making it difficult for the ones due for the training to access their allowances.
THISDAY gathered that the federal government was particularly concerned that some of the consultant doctors who were involved in the illegal deal had not shown remorse for their action but rather were among those collaborating with resident doctors on the on-going strike.
The source also disclosed that out of the 8,000 House Officers that applied for the 2021 residency training programme, 2,000 were screened out for not having postgraduate residency training numbers.
The source said verification was on-going to ensure that only those qualified were deployed for the next programme.
According to the source, the Federal Ministry of Finance has released N4.8 billion as this year’s residency training fund to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation two weeks ago.
Regarding the smuggling of names into the salary payment platform, the source said the federal government had issued queries to Chief Medical Directors of the Federal Teaching Hospitals involved in the illegal act.
About 205 doctors were alleged to have been illegally recruited at the Ibadan Teaching Hospital, while the Calabar Teaching Hospital carried out illegal recruitment of over 100 doctors out of the 500 health workers.
According to the source, these illegally recruited doctors and health workers formed the majority of those that the NARD leadership were demanding that government should pay before they would end their on-going strike.
The source said, “These CMDs went ahead to recruit new doctors and other health workers without relevant approvals and ignoring the federal character principles. They went further to smuggle their names into the (GIFIMS) salary payment platform.
“Teaching Hospital, Ibadan recruited over 950 health workers without waiver from the office of the Head of Service, without certificate of finance and manpower compliance from the Budget Office of the Federation and without compliance with the federal character principle.
“These illegally recruited doctors and health workers were among those that NARD is demanding that federal government must pay salaries. This amounts to arm twisting of the government and cover-up of fraudulent act and it will not happen.
“The federal government in its magnanimity, despite the on-going strike, has decided to pay these illegally recruited doctors and health workers by asking the Head of Service of the Federation to approve a waiver for the affected doctors to be recruited formally into full employment.
“The Budget Office of the Federation is now working to capture them into the budget to be paid through the service wide vote.”
But, in a statement issued at the weekend and made available to THISDAY, former President of NARD, Dr. Muhammad Askira, accused some government officials of deliberately delaying the grant of waiver for recruitment or replacement of medical doctors and other health workers in the federal government health institutions.
Part of the grievances of the striking Resident Doctors was that their members were being owed several months of salaries and allowances by federal and state governments.
Askira, while justifying the current strike by resident doctors, said it was as a result of the government’s insincerity in implementing agreed actionable series of memoranda.
He alleged that there was currently a dearth of medical manpower in healthcare institutions caused by unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks.
Askira alleged that the country presently had a doctor-to –patients’ ratio of 1: 7000, adding that many hospitals are finding it difficult to recruit or replace doctors.
According to Askira, many doctors are leaving the country to other climes where they can do their job with satisfaction.
He said, “As a result, the hospitals are depleted but find it difficult to employ new staff because of bureaucratic processes that involve the Budget Office of the Federation, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, the Federal Character Commission as well as the Federal Ministry of Health.
“This has made the work burden on the available doctors to be unbearably high, resulting in physician burnout and limited care to a limited number of people needing care.”
Writing on the alleged rot in the public health sector, Askira said the process of recruitment or replacement of medical staff was incessantly delayed for no just reason. He accused some officials in the Federal Ministry of Health and its agencies of corruption and deliberately delaying grant of approval for waiver for recruitment or replacement of medical staff.
He said, “It takes an average of 8-12 months for a lucky hospital to finally obtain a waiver for recruitment or replacement of medical staff. In some cases, the hospitals would be forced to consider candidates from some directors and politicians if at all they want the processes to be expedited, otherwise, it would be out rightly rejected or at best delayed and the required number slashed.”
But the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, had debunked these, saying contrary to the claims by the striking members of NARD, no genuinely recruited doctor or health worker in Nigeria is being owed monthly salary.
Speaking recently at a conciliatory meeting with doctors, Ngige had said, “NARD goes about telling Nigerians that government is owing them salaries and that government is not taking the problems in the health sector serious. But this is not true. It is incorrect.
“No doctor, nurse, pharmacist or any other health worker, including the driver, is owed monthly salary. Government pays as and when due.
“The truth is that NARD doctors fail to tell Nigerians that their colleagues who are owed salaries are the ones illegally recruited and were, therefore, neither captured by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation nor was their payment provided for by the Budget Office of the Federation.”
Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Thisdaylive
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How ex-Head of Service Oyo-Ita diverted N3bn public funds to private firms
How ex-Head of Service Oyo-Ita diverted N3bn public funds to private firms
Hamma Bello, the eighth prosecution witness in the trial of Winifred Oyo-Ita, a former Head of Service of the Federation, has narrated how N3 billion was diverted to private companies.
The witness stated this while testifying before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday about how the defendant and her subordinates diverted public funds into their private companies.
Oyo-Ita, the first defendant, is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, along with her special assistants; Ugbong Effiok (seventh defendant) and Garba Umar (fourth defendant).
Others are six companies: Frontline Ace Global Services Limited, Asanaya Projects Limited, Slopes International Limited, U and U Global Services Ltd, Prince Mega Logistics Ltd, and Good Deal Investments, on 18 counts bordering on misappropriation, official corruption, money laundering, and criminal diversion of funds to the tune of over N3 billion.
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The witness, while being led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Faruk Abdullahi, and H.M. Mohammed, told the court that Oyo-Ita used Slopes International Limited and Good Deal Investments Limited – fifth and sixth defendants respectively, to fraudulently award government contracts to herself through the fourth defendant, Umar.
The first entry transaction of Good Deal Investment Limited. in February 2019 showed that N42,748,201.47 was paid into its Zenith Bank account.
Umar, the witness said, incorporated the company with Oyo-Ita’s full knowledge.
“We called for the account statements of these two companies, and upon analysing them, we realised he (Umar) was paid several sums of money from the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, where he is an employee.
“And upon interviewing the fourth defendant, he admitted that he was also a contractor. He also admitted to have paid the first defendant on several occasions from the proceeds of the transaction,” the witness said.
On April 27, 2019, the witness disclosed that a transfer of N20, 2027, 142 was made in the name of Ibrahim Madu to the Zenith Bank account of Asanaya Projects Limited.
The mandate card of the account bears the signature and photo of the seventh defendant, Effiok.
Investigation, according to the witness, also revealed that the seventh defendant incorporated Asanaya Projects Limited in his name with the knowledge of the first defendant and that approvals were granted and payments made to the seventh defendant either through his personal account or to the account of the company.
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The witness said, “The seventh defendant, upon interview, confirmed he had never travelled for most of the funds he received and that the first defendant was aware of and benefitted on several occasions from the funds. The account of U and U Global Services Limited was also opened by the seventh defendant.
“In summary, from 2015 to 2018, U and U Global Limited received several payments in the form of Duty Tour Allowances and estacodes. Sometimes, payments from the federal government were made directly to the account, for instance, on March 24, 2016, he received N40, 313, 453. 58. This particular payment was from the federal government.”
Further in his testimony, the witness stated that, “Exhibit O is the Fidelity Bank account of Prince Mega Logistics Ltd. On March 27, 2018, and April 6, 2018, there were four entries, N4, 950 000; N3,946,000, N4,676,000 and N1,478,000, from Thomson Titus Okure, who used to be a colleague of the seventh defendant in the Account Department.
“There were also outward payments to Ignom, Minaro Blessing, Winifred Oyo-Ita, Olarenwaju Godman Olushola and the seventh defendant is the sole signatory of this account.”
Speaking further, he said, “I also want to add that we invited the first, second and seventh defendant at different times to our office and interviewed them. In the case of the first defendant, we printed chats from her phone and saw conversations she had with contractors, subordinates, and permanent secretaries. She also voluntarily made a statement to the EFCC.”
The matter was adjourned till April 30, 2024.
(SAHARAREPORTERS)
How ex-Head of Service Oyo-Ita diverted N3bn public funds to private firms
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A statement by Stanley Olisa, the airline’s Corporate Communications Lead, explained that some minutes before landing, the Captain noticed a fire warning indicator in the cockpit.
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PDP, LP kick as US report says 2023 polls reflect people’s will despite irregularities
PDP, LP kick as US report says 2023 polls reflect people’s will despite irregularities
The US Department of State in a report has affirmed that Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, despite irregularities, reflected the will of its people.
Published in the 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour, the document scrutinizes human rights practices and violations worldwide, including in Nigeria.
“National elections, though plagued by technical and logistical challenges alongside irregularities, were broadly deemed to represent voters’ intentions,” the report asserts.
Even as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) hailed the report, the two major opposition parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) criticised it.
Independent observers concluded that outcomes of presidential, legislative, and state-level elections mirrored voter sentiments, notwithstanding instances of voter suppression, vote buying, campaign activities at polling stations, compromised ballot secrecy, violence, and intimidation.
In the March 18 state election in Lagos, supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) allegedly intimidated and suppressed voters in Igbo-dominated regions, won by Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi in the national election on February 25.
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Social media footage depicted APC supporters in Ojo menacing ethnic Igbo voters perceived to favour Obi. In Eti-Osa, APC supporters assaulted journalists and impeded non-Yoruba voters’ access to polls, with reported property damage and physical obstruction of voters in Amuwo-Odofin. Despite police presence, no intervention occurred, and no arrests or prosecutions of alleged perpetrators were documented.
The report highlights the low participation of women and marginalized groups in the electoral process. Women’s political engagement averages 6.7 percent in elected and appointed roles nationwide. Civil society organizations have noted that religious, cultural, and economic hurdles hinder women’s leadership prospects within major parties and government.
A gender-based violence survey by ElectHER NGO underscored the use of religious and cultural barriers, including double standards, blackmail, and media defamation, against female politicians.
Media outlets perpetuated stereotypes, labeling women politicians as “promiscuous” or “cunning” and, in some instances, refrained from covering their campaigns purportedly under directives from opposition figures.
Moreover, the report criticized Nigeria’s inconsistent implementation of anti-corruption laws, citing pervasive corruption across the country, including within the judiciary.
Reacting the PDP, through its national spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, said despite the outcome of the elections, the party remained committed to ensuring that Nigeria would not become a one-party state or slide into dictatorship.
The Labour Party, through Obiora Ifoh, said, “To say the outcome of such an election reflects the majority view of Nigerians is left for the people to judge. Our commitment to the development of democracy in Nigeria remains unshakable.”
PDP, LP kick as US report says 2023 polls reflect people’s will despite irregularities
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