BREAKING: NHIS Boss Yusuf Suspended
BY MUSA SIMON REEF, ABUJA – Information reaching Forefront indicates that the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, has been suspended from office.
According to a source, the suspension letter, signed by a top official of the Federal Ministry of Health, was delivered to the NHIS boss on Thursday.
According to the source, the suspension of Yusuf was the outcome of a ministerial committee set up to probe his headship of the agency since his appointment a year ago.
“The truth is that the committee recommended for his suspension so as to thoroughly probe alleged deals that runs contrary to financial guidelines.
“Recently, Prof Yusuf directed no fewer than 100 staffers of the NHIS to be posted to various health facilities in various parts of the country to serve as desk officers. This is something that has never been done. The posting was a prologue to the recruitment of certain categories of workers by the embattled NHIS boss.
“As it is now, the transfered staffers to the health facilities are billed to be recalled. It was an action in clear violation of the guidelines and something far above his powers,” the source explained.
Yusuf has been engaged in a war of attrition with major stakeholders in the NHIS, with various groups alleging that his leadership of the agency has been faulty and designed to undermine the workings of the Scheme. The National Assembly is currently probing various allegations against Yusuf by various groups.
The Health and Managed Care Association of Nigeria (HMCAN) has accused the suspended NHIS boss of plotting to paint its members, Health Management Organisations (HMOs) in bad light. HMCAN recently petitioned Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to probe into Yusuf’s alleged maladministration.
Efforts to get response from Mrs Boade, who is the Chief Press Secretary to the Health Minister Professor Isaac Adewole, proved fruitless. Calls to her phones did not go through, just as text message to her phone was not responded to as at the time of filing this story.
However, a source at the NHIS confirmed that Yusuf was indeed served a suspension letter on Thursday July 6.
…more details.