and prosecution of Dr. Femi Thomas and Mr. Olufemi Akingbade, former Executive Secretary and Acting Executive Secretary respectively of the of the scheme, who have been the identified masterminds. The group also indicted two former Senate Presidents, Messrs. David Mark, and Anyim Pius Anyim.
The group's made its position known in a statement signed on its behalf
by Mr. Ibrahim Walan Garba. CATBAN said Dr. Thomas should immediately be
arrested for unilaterally making illegal payment of N1.05billion to Health
Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and purchase of land at an inflated fee way
beyond their budgetary allocation. It made the same demand of Mr. Akingbade,
who conspired to use a corrupted database to make dubious payment of N1billion
and N50million to some HMOs.
CATBAN equally called for the identification and prosecution of everyone
involved in the theft of funds belonging to hospitals that render services to
NHIS enrollees as well as those connected to the fixed deposit accounts in 11
commercial banks at ridiculous interest rates, contrary to the provisions of the
Central Bank of Nigeria. The group similarly called for the prosecution of NHIS
officials preventing the transfer of funds in commercial banks to the Federal
Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The group’s position was based on a recent report published by
SaharaReporters, which revealed details of how Dr. Femi Thomas and his
successor, Mr. Akingbade, masterminded fraud totaling billions of naira,
employment racketeering and other acts connoting abuse of office, and its own
independent investigation.
Dr. Thomas was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) in March 2016 before the Federal High Court in Lagos over the illegal
acquisition of $2.2million.The group noted that an Executive Secretary of the
NHIS, Professor Yusuf Usman, had admitted that the level of fraud in the NHIS
was worse than the fuel subsidy scam.
“According to him, the scheme was skewed against the enrollees. It was
skewed for the HMOs. He stated that NHIS is paying the HMOs three months in
advance on behalf of the enrollees, to pay hospitals. But unfortunately, they
do not pay hospitals,” CATBAN stated.
Before the SaharaReporters' story, noted CATBAN, the Senate had resolved
to probe an N860 million scandal at the NHIS. CATBAN recalled that in a motion
sponsored by Mr. Kabiru Garba Marafa, a senator, it was noted that an Executive
Secretary of the NHIS, Dr. Yusuf, had been involved in expenditures way beyond
his limit.
On account of the revelations, CATBAN said it investigated the activities
of the NHIS and, through relevant documentation and evidence, discovered the
masterminds and collaborators.
Its investigation, it said, threw up three main issues: financial
manipulation and violation of due process, fraudulent activities of HMOs as
well as bank fraud and unaccounted earnings.
CATBAN noted that the budgetary allocation for the purchase of land for
NHIS in 2014 was N500million. However, the undeveloped land at Plot 815 Utako,
adjacent NHIS head office in Abuja, was purchased under Dr. Thomas at the cost
of N990million. The NHIS paid N90million as agency fee vide voucher with
reference No NHIS/ADM/002/2015 dated 12 January 2015.
“This constitutes a major
violation when the actual amount budgeted for that purpose in the 2014 NHIS
budget was N500million. Investigation at the Federal Capital Development
Authority (FCDA) revealed that contrary to the claim of
purchasing the said land at N990million, the FCDA placed a N639 million
value on it, leaving a N351 million yawning difference,” said CATBAN.
On the fixed deposit accounts, the group noted that on 22 December 2014,
via a memo (No. NHIS/CMD/12/Vol. Vii, page 985), the sum of N193.3 billion was
placed in a fixed deposit in one day with 11 commercial banks at 2% interest
rate. This, observed CATBAN, was at a time when the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) prevailing interest rate was 9.2%. The civil society organization said a
probe was conducted in the financial misconduct, but its outcome has been muzzled.
“It is important to note that the leadership of the NHIS at some point
conducted some investigation into this matter in which many of the staff
involved in the exercise were recommended for termination and subsequent
prosecution. We do not know what has been done to these culprits years later.
Additionally, we are also aware that the NHIS forwarded a petition to the
Department of State Service (DSS) to investigate some of these atrocities and
the final report of the investigation was submitted to the organization and
till date, nothing was ever heard again,” lamented CATBAN.
The group’s investigation also unearthed illegal payment to HMOs, with
Dr. Thomas paying N1.05billion on the pretext of arrears without approval or
authorization from the Board of Governing Council or budgetary allocation. The
illegal payment was confirmed by the 2015 Auditor-General of the Federation's
report.
In a similar vein, the group discovered the NHIS management went beyond
its approval limits. Approvals in excess of N2.5million, CATBAN noted, require
the ratification of the board before approval for disbursement.
“The former Executive Secretary, Dr. Femi Thomas, unilaterally made
payment of the above sum without any form of consultations with the Board,”
observed CATBAN. The group also found that HMOs, which are medical insurance
groups that provide health services for
fixed annual fees, have been corrupted and skewed against hospitals and
beneficiaries.
"While the HMOs often get paid three months in advance, the
hospitals do not receive their money and as a result, several hospitals are
being owed," CATBAN discovered.
It stated that Mr. Anyim Pius Anyim, a former Secretary to the Government
of the Federation (SGF) and Mr. David Mark, a former Senate President, are some
of the owners of these HMOs involved in stealing billions under the NHIS.
The group found that as at 31 March 2015, more than 70% of HMOs had
refused to pay hospitals that render services to enrollees their respective due
sum of N2.4billion for capitation and
N298.3million for service fees
in 19 Northern states. It equally found that they refused to pay
N318,428,275.75 for capitation and N49,936,529.29 for service fees in 17
Southern states. "This is in spite
of the fact that all the HMOs had been collecting billions of naira, advanced
them upfront for every three months throughout 2015 and 2016.
Thus, the total amount due to hospitals being held illegally by some HMOs
from the verification conducted in March 2017 stands at N3.1billion," said
CATBAN. In addition, it uncovered duplication of data for the 2013 and 2014
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and
fraudulent payment to some ghost enrollees.
"The database of NHIS was compromised and the management was fully
aware of this compromise. However, despite their knowledge of the situation,
Dr. Thomas and the then General Manager of ICT, Mr. Femi Akingbade, both
collaborated to use the corrupted database to make dubious payment of
N1.050billion to some HMOs, knowing full well that the list was compromised and
duplicated," CATBAN said.
It reasoned that fraud diminishes the objectives of the NHIS and if it
remains unchecked, the scheme will die will die. CATBAN accused civil society
organizations of doing little to arrest the drift.
"While the NHIS, HMOs, banks, and others are busy enriching
themselves at the detriment of dying Nigerians, the members of the civil
society are not doing enough. We are simply sitting back and watching while the
people we claim to be speaking for are dying helplessly. In the fuel subsidy
scam, people cashed the cheques and ran away, but here, human beings suffer and
die from their inability or refusal to regulate and do the right thing,"
lamented CATBAN.
It advised Nigerians against buying into the stock spiel of witch-hunt
used by those accused of corruption.
"We should never buy into the baseless insinuation of witch-hunt,
knowing full well that it is only a witch that can be witch hunted. We must
also not succumb to the blackmail of the organized corrupt syndicates,
whose only hope of escaping justice lies in their ability to manipulate
the system as well as the population," CATBAN counseled.
It called on civil society groups to join in its efforts to banish graft
through the hashtag #TakeBackNHIS call on all civil society organizations to
join it in the bid to sanitize the NHIS.
CATBAN said it was particularly depressing to discover that top NHIS
management staff, in connivance with commercial banks, regularly denied the
scheme proceeds of its investments.
Through it investigation, it found that13 banks refused to account for
the interest on investment of the NHIS.
It discovered that in Heritage Bank, the NHIS invested N140million and
earned an interest of N1.9million, leaving N1.8million unaccounted for in
interest.
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