Senate Public Accounts Committee on Monday uncovered how officials of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) paid salary of N38 billion without approval by the Federal Government.
The Committee chaired by Senator Mathew Urhoghide uncovered illegal payment of salaries as a result of 2018 report of Auditor General of the Federation.
The query reads,”Audit observed that the Fund had been implementing a salary structure that is not approved by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.
As a result, irregular payment of N 38,219,919,530.32 by way of personnel cost was made to the staff of the Fund from 2012 to 2017.https://scudnewsng.com
“Implementation of unapproved salary structure may result in wastage of public funds, as remuneration may be higher than the productivity level of staff.
Recommendation: The Managing Director is required to provide the approval of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission for the implementation of the Fund’s salaries structure.”
The Committee further discovered in the letter from National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission that an objection was raised about the payment of unapproved salaries by the commission.
The letter read in part ,”however, the following anomalies are observed in the consolidated salary: General Manager and Deputy General Manager are both placed on GL17 respectively and One GL17, (General Manager) salary grade has 8 steps while another GL(Deputy General Manager) and GL 16 salary grades have 5 steps each.
“The Fund is, therefore, advised to arrange a meeting of the fund, its supervising Ministry and this Commission to rectify these anomalies before the next promotion exercise.”
The Committee therefore sustained the query of illegal payment of salaries by the NSTIF.
