The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has obtained a court order to declare wanted Dr. Ngozi Olojeme, the Deputy Chairman, Finance Committee of the Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation in 2015, Punch newspaper reports.
Olojeme, who served as the Chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund from 2009 to 2015, was accused of diverting $48,485,127 from the NSITF. The NSITF is a social insurance scheme designed to provide compensation to employees who suffer from occupational accidents or diseases in the line of duty. The organisation is funded by deducting 1 per cent from all government and private sector employees enrolled in the scheme.
However, according to documents made available to The Punch, Olojeme and some directors in the company allegedly diverted billions of naira including funds meant for the payment of allowances of its staff as well as compensation to contributors.
Trouble started for Olojeme shortly after her removal by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. The EFCC subsequently received a petition alleging that over N50bn from the Employee Compensation Scheme fund, paid by Ministries, Departments and Agencies and private companies as well as another N18bn, being the contribution of the Federal Government as take-off grant to the NSITF, was mismanaged and diverted into the personal accounts of Olojeme and Umar Abubakar, a former Managing Director of the NSITF.
The EFCC immediately set up a team of detectives to look into the allegations. Operatives of the commission looked into the bank account of the NSITF and uncovered suspicious transactions and diversion of funds. Some funds were said to have been traced to the accounts of some consultants and contractors, who were believed to be fronts for Olojeme and other directors in the NSITF. It was learnt that several directors and contractors were invited to explain their own side of the story, many of whom have since returned funds to the EFCC.
An EFCC report, made available to our correspondent, read in part, “It was discovered that the NSITF accounts in First Bank of Nigeria and other banks have witnessed a total turnover of over N62,358,401,927 between 2012 and 2015 from the Employee Compensation Scheme contributions.
“That out of the N62bn, the Federal Government contributed N13,600,000,000 while the sum of N48,758,401,927.80 was contributed by the private sector. That there were several payments to individuals and companies from the NSITF bank accounts for purported contracts or consultancy services.
“That some individuals and companies that received these payments, in turn, transferred part of the
