Workers at the National Health Insurance Scheme on Thursday temporarily grounded activities at the head office of the agency in Abuja, demanding the reversal of the controversial reinstatement of the Executive Secretary of the NHIS, Prof. Usman Yusuf.
Also, the National Conscience Party has condemned President Muhammadu Buhari for the reinstatement of Yusuf, who was suspended by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, for fraud-related offences.
The workers, under the aegis of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria and the Joint Health Sector Union, began the protest about 40 minutes after Yusuf resumed at the agency.
The unionists, who sang protest songs, said the reinstatement of Yusuf would thwart his investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The protesters, who described the reinstatement saga as ‘Yusufgate,’ said it was a mockery of Buhari’s anti-corruption war.
Addressing journalists on the premises of the agency, the Chairman of the NHIS arm of the union, Mr. Razaq Omomeji, said the protests would continue until Buhari reversed Yusuf’s reinstatement.
He said, “Our presence is to jointly endorse the position of the Secretary-General of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria on the reinstatement of Prof. Usman Yusuf. We demand and urge the President and the Federal Government to reverse the reinstatement if they want to have peace and industrial harmony.
“We are a law-abiding people and we have never in the history of the NHIS, created any problem for anyone. But the reinstatement of Prof. Yusuf will cause chaos in the scheme.
“They should allow the man to be cleared by the EFCC before he is allowed to resume. We can help them in investigating the man.”
Omomeji said the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress were looking into the matter, adding that the NHIS boss had done nothing but described workers as thieves.
He said Yusuf bastardised the scheme by making arbitrary appointments in flagrant disregard for the Civil Service Rules.
“His first action when he took over the affairs of the scheme showed that he had no plan for the agency. He appointed a lady born in 1984 to Level 15. She was at Level 9 at the EFCC before she was brought here. Imagine that!”
Also speaking, Mr. Aina Benjamin, who is the Secretary of the Medical and Health Workers Union, NHIS branch, said Yusuf would launch a revenge attack on all the whistle-blowers in the agency and therefore called on Buhari to remove him.
“He is coming here to fight back and there is no way he would not come here with his own agenda and then the agency would not be able to progress and that is why we are asking the President to reverse this reinstatement,” Benjamin said.
He rubbished claims that the panel set up by the ministry to investigate Yusuf was not well constituted.
When asked if the workers would embark on strike if the President refused to remove Usman, he said, “We will wait for our national secretariat on the next line of action.”
The NCP asked Buhari to reverse the reinstatement of Yusuf because of the damaging effect the action would have on his image and the anti-corruption war of his administration.
The NCP in a statement signed by its National Vice-Chairman, Waheed Lawal, in Osogbo on Thursday, described Yusuf’s reinstatement as a betrayal of trust reposed in the President by majority of Nigerians who voted him into power based on his promise to fight corruption in the country.
He said it was absurd that the Presidency reinstated the NHIS boss who was accused of fraud, arguing that Yusuf’s reinstatement while he was still being investigated by the EFCC was a dent on the anti-corruption war of the present administration.
The statement read, “We, in the NCP, see the recall of Prof. Usman Yusuf as a betrayal of trust and confidence the Nigeria people reposed in the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. He has, with this singular act, halted every progress this administration is making to curtail the act of corruption among public officers.
“How on earth will a man who can’t account for the expenditure of N919m NHIS fund be recalled back to duty? Why will a man who publicly said f**k you to a serving minister be recalled just like that? Why is the Presidency condoning Yussuf? Is it because he’s the President’s kinsman?
“We are perturbed by this development and it has become imperative for the President to address the nation on his stance, as it is becoming clearer that nepotism and favouritism are a determinant to most of his policies, as the recall of AbdulRasheed Maina remains unresolved till date.
“It is on record that one Mr. Femi Akingbade, the former acting Executive Secretary of NHIS was summarily removed from office on mere allegations contained in petitions submitted against him, with the baggage of revelations emerging from the administrative panel of enquiry of how Yusuf diverted funds through phony contracts, illegal training and spending of unbudgeted allocation on cronies and friends.
“It was only during his short stay that the association of HMOs threatened to disengage from the NHIS owing to maladministration and policy somersaults. However, if the President was actually dissatisfied with the Ministry of Health panel, he should have instituted a fresh panel to investigate the allegations levelled against Yusuf.
“We hereby call on the President to immediately reverse itself, allow the law of the land to take its full course on the Usman Yusuf case, give the anti-corruption agency the marching order to conclude their investigation, so this nation can be on the part of justice again.”
In a related development, the immediate past Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association in Osun State, Dr. Suraj Ogunyemi, has described the reinstatement of Yusuf as a slap on the face of the minister.
Ogunyemi, who said this in an interview with one of our correspondents in Osogbo, described the reinstatement as unfortunate.
He said such would portray the government as not being serious with its anti-corruption war, saying the Presidency ought to have allowed investigations to be concluded before returning him to his duty post if he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Punch
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