The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, in alleged connivance with the management of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), is being accused of illegal tax deductions from the salaries of over 5 000 workers of the Trust Fund.
An aggrieved source said the deductions run into billions because of the organisation’s large staff population.
The controversy is an offshoot of the Federal Government’s approval of a new minimum wage in 2019. The salary review extended across all levels of civil servants in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including the NSITF employees.
Findings revealed the approval was also validated by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC).
A memo with reference number, NSITF/AC/DIR/ADMIN/5/S.13/26 obtained by The ICIR, the NSITF management, through the executive director in charge of administration, also confirmed the salary upgrade for all the staff from Grade Level 03 to Grade Level 17.
The confirmation was dated April 13, 2022, and the payment was expected to take effect from April 2019.
In other words, there was a percentage increase in the salary of the employees, from the vehicle drivers to supervisors and managers.
A breakdown revealed that grade levels 03 to 07 would get a 23.2 per cent upward review.
From officer II to the senior manager, grade 08 to 14, there was a 14 per cent increase. In contrast, grade level 15 to 17 officers, the principal managers and general managers are expected to benefit from a 10.5 per cent increase.
With the adjustment, an NSITF staff in level 3, receiving N50, 000 as take-home, would have a salary increase of 23.2 per cent.
That is, an additional N11, 600 increase to the existing N50, 000 to make N61, 600. In three years, this amounts to hundreds of thousands in Naira.
“Payment of the consequential adjustment has been carried out in line with approvals from the (NSIWC) and the supervising ministry, and the ministry of labour and employment,” the memo sighted by The ICIR read.
“Percentage of computation of salary increase/arrears for various ranks/levels are Motor Driver to Supervisor (Grade Level 03 to 07):23.2 per cent; Officer II to Senior Manager (Grade Level 08 to 14): 14 per cent and Principal Manager to General Manager (Grade Level 15 to 17): 10.5 per cent.”
The NSITF ultimately agreed to pay the employees in three tranches since there was an outstanding directive by the Federal Government for agencies yet to implement the new minimum wage policy.
The Fund has mostly been in the news for wrong reasons, either a case of stealing of public funds or abuse of office, especially by its past executives. There were other cases of breach of the Public Procurement Act 2007, where at least nine sacked top officials were directed to return ‘excess remunerations’.
Payment of lump sum commences
On April 1, 2022, the NSITF eventually made its first tranche of payments to the staff.
The second amount was scheduled for June 30, 2022, while September 30, 2022, was set as the payment of the last tranche.
However, the union dragged Ngige of allegedly conniving with the management of the NSITF to deducting up to N500, 000 from the employees, depending on salary levels of the employees.
“For instance, someone who received N400, 000 as his first tranche got N250, 000 in the second, and we don’t know how much would get to us in the last tranche,” an official at the Fund said, raising doubt that there were no defined benchmarks as to what type of tax and percentage of deductions adopted.
“There were no defined parameters to which the deductions were made,” the source said.
“In my case, I ought to receive N1.5m for the three tranches. N500, 000 per tranche.”
READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/ngige-nsitf-management-accused-of-multibillion-naira-deductions-from-staff-salaries/
