Finally, Buhari fires NHIS ES

President Muhammadu Buhari has fired Usman Yusuf, executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Boade Akinola, director, media, ministry of health, announced this in a statement  on Monday.

Akinola said the president had approved the appointment of Mohammed Sambo, as the new head of NHIS. She added that Buhari had reappointed Chikwe Ihekweazu as director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

She said the sack of Yusuf was in line with the recommendation of a panel set up to probe the crisis in the scheme.

“Following the recommendations of report by an independent fact finding panel on the NHIS, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the termination of appointment of the Executive Secretary, Prof. Usman Yusuf, who has been on administrative leave and has approved the appointment of Prof. Mohammed Sambo as the new executive secretary,” the statement read.

“Similarly, the president also approved the dissolution of the governing board of the NHIS and directed the permanent secretary, federal ministry of health to exercise full powers of the council pending the constitution of a new board.”

Two years ago, Isaac Adewole, former minister of health, suspended Yusuf over allegations of fraud but he was reinstated six months later.

This had caused uproar at the scheme, subsequently leading to the NHIS board suspending the ES but he described the action as illegal, saying only Buhari had the power to do so.

Subsequently, he returned to office under the protection of the police.

WHAT WAS YUSUF’S ALLEGD CRIME?

On July 6, 2017, Adewole had suspended Yusuf over allegations of fraud levelled against him. Insiders had told TheCable that since his appointment on July 29, 2016, Yusuf had violated procurement laws and dished out contracts to cronies.

TheCable learnt that the final straw that led to his suspension was the alleged purchase of a Prado SUV by Yusuf for N58 million shortly before Ramadan, though his approval limit was N2.5 million.

His suspension at the time had resulted in intrigues after the NHIS ES told the minister he has no powers to suspend him.

The house of representatives had also called for his reinstatement, pending the outcome of the probe into the allegations against him.