The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has again shifted the planned inauguration of the Board of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF Board) till unknown time, despite the threat by the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC), led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, to dismember him from the party and sack him as a minister.
The Chairman of APC had written the minister and threatened him with a sack if he failed to inaugurate the NSITF board within seven days.
However, the labour minister had said while receiving the report of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry into the financial affairs of the NSITF Board, that the board will be inaugurated before the end of July.
Specifically, Ngige said since the report of the investigative panel, which delay the NSITF Board inauguration had been submitted, the board will be inaugurated to work in conjunction with the Report Implementation Committee, which was then expected to be inaugurated by the minister.
While justifying why the NSITF Board was not inaugurated earlier, Ngige stated that the fact that former board members as well as some staff of the agency were involved in the orgy of looting at the NSITF made a thorough cleansing of the organisation before inaugurating a new NSITF Board mandatory.
“A new wine cannot be put in an old wine skin. Now that the panel is done with its work, inaugurating a new board will come soon.”
He went further to state that the NSITF Board would be inaugurated before the end of July, and would jointly work with the implementation committee to implement the report of the panel.
Meanwhile, the minister inaugurated a Seven-Man Implementation Committee on the Report of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry last week but again failed to inaugurate the board.
He further postponed the inauguration of the NSITF Board, saying that the board would only be inaugurated after the Report Implementation Committee might have completely finished its jobs.
While inaugurating the committee, Ngige charged the members to strictly abide by the directive of the President to work expeditiously and round off assignment within two weeks so as to pave way for the inauguration of the board.
