Chris Ngige, who served as the Minister of Labour and Employment under former President Muhammadu Buhari, was recently questioned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). Ngige spent about five hours on Wednesday responding to inquiries related to certain contracts awarded within the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF). This investigation is part of a broader scrutiny of financial and administrative activities within the NSITF....READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE ▶▶
The ICPC’s interest in the case also extends to a controversial payment of N47 million in gratuity to the former Managing Director, Mrs. Maureen Allagoa, while she was still in office. This unusual payment has raised concerns about potential misconduct or policy violations.
Adding to the unfolding situation, Simon Lalong, the former Minister of Labour and current Senator, established a special investigative committee to probe alleged irregularities in the awarding of contracts worth N1.8 billion at the NSITF. This committee’s focus includes examining how these contracts were handled and whether due process was followed.
Both the ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are now involved in probing these allegations, leading to Ngige’s recent invitation by the ICPC.
Ngige, who was abroad in the United States for medical reasons when initially summoned, reportedly met with ICPC officials to clarify matters concerning the approval and subsequent abandonment of a multi-million naira electronic project known as e-NSITF, which had received the green light from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) during Buhari’s administration.
According to Daily Trust, a source within the ICPC confirmed Ngige’s attendance, stating, “Yes, our detectives had interaction with him. We had since invited him in line with our SOP but he told us he was outside the country. So, we had to give him some time to finish what he went to do in the US. So, he honoured our invitation yesterday (Wednesday).”
An associate of Ngige clarified that he was not arrested, stressing that the former minister left the ICPC headquarters after providing explanations related to ministerial and presidential approvals during his tenure.
“He was invited when he was out of the country to make clarification on some claims made by staff and he went there on his own yesterday to make clarifications. He wasn’t arrested by anyone.
“He went on his own, made clarification based on submissions made by staff over ministerial/presidential approval of some issues and he left immediately after that,”
he said.
When asked about the incident, ICPC spokesperson Demola Bakare stated that he was not aware of the matter at the time and would need to verify the details before commenting further.
