Barely eight months after the reinstatement of the
Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman
Yusuf, by President Muhammadu Buhari, the governing council of the scheme on Thursday again suspended him indefinitely.
The Chairperson of the council, Ifenne Enyanatu,
who announced the suspension at a press conference in Abuja, said the
decision was reached after a two-day meeting of the council members.
She said the council resolved to suspend Yusuf
because it has been inundated with petitions of fraud and infractions, adding
that the council has set up an administrative panel to examine allegations
leveled against him.
It was gathered that he was also suspended because
he has on several occasions refused to carry out some of the board's decisions.
The chairperson said: "The panel has three
months to complete its assignment and report back to us.
"The suspension is to allow the panel have
adequate space to do a thorough investigation.
“We consulted and got the approval of the Minister of
Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, before this suspension.”
Enyanatu also announced that Mallam Sadiq Abubakar
will act as Executive Secretary in Yusuf’s stead in the time being.
Yusuf was in June 2017 suspended by Adewole over
allegations of corruption but was recalled in February 2018 by President Buhari
who was away on a medical leave in the United Kingdom when he was suspended.
He was at the time accused of corrupt expenditure to
the tune of N292 million which he allegedly spent on health care training
without recourse to any appropriate approving authority.
Following his reinstatement last February, stakeholders
in the health sector, led by the Health and Managed Care Association of Nigeria
(HMCAN), condemned his backing by President Buhari
They accused Buhari of preferring ethnicity to
competence and ignoring the report of a panel that indicted and suspended Yusuf
of fraud.
In April this year, it was reported of the
ES's interest in investing at least N25 billion of the scheme's funds in
government securities through Cowry Asset Management Limited against advice
from the Ministry of Health and its finance counterpart.
Yusuf, 54, took over the government-run health
insurance provider on July 29, 2016. But his reign at the agency has been
fraught with graft controversies.
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