Usman Yusuf, executive secretary
of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), says those who think they can stop his
fight against corruption in the agency have failed.
In an interview with BBC Hausa,
the NHIS executive secretary said he has been going through “unnecessary
accusations of fraud” since he came on board at the NHIS.
Yusuf said he was only accused of
corruption but not indicted and that the “powerful people” whom he stepped on
their toes are the ones after him.
The executive secretary was
suspended by the NHIS governing board last week over allegations of corruption
and financial infractions.
While announcing Yusuf’s
suspension on Thursday, Enantu Ifenna, chairman of the NHIS governing board,
accused him of mismanaging the agency’s funds.
But Yusuf had said he was
innocent of the allegations and also argued that his suspension was illegal.
“They’re doing that just to
intimidate and stop me from doing my good work. They have failed, I will never
succumb to their ploy, I think they have to change plan,” Yusuf told BBC Hausa.
“I told everyone when I came on
board that the public funds in the commission belong to Nigerians, no one
should tamper with that money, including myself.
“If I’m corrupt, EFCC and ICPC
are currently recovering billions of naira from my whistle blowing in the
commission and I have never been indicted by the anti-corruption agencies.
“My ordeal as the executive
secretary of NHIS may be connected with NHIS agents who think that I stepped on
their toes and you know these people are powerful and they are well established
in the previous administration.
“Those NHIS agents, I told them
to pay back their debts which has already run to billions of naira. After initial
investigation, I learnt that so many abnormalities need to be corrected.”
Isaac Adewole, minister of
health, has first suspended Yusuf – over similar allegations – last year but he
was reinstated following the president’s intervention.
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