The Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, Prof. Usman Yusuf, has been suspended indefinitely, months after he was reinstated by President Buhari.
Yusuf, was last year suspended by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, and indicted for an alleged N919m fraud.
He was controversially reinstated by Buhari on February 6, this year.
However, the governing board of the NHIS on Thursday announced the indefinite suspension of Yusuf and appointed Sadiq Abubakar as the acting executive secretary.
At a briefing in Abuja, Thursday, the Chairman of the NHIS board, Dr Enyantu Ifenne, accused Yusuf of insubordination, fraud, arbitrariness and other corrupt practices. Ifenne said;
“The council has met. We have been inundated with petitions. We also observed some executive infractions that we cannot ignore, especially in an administration that is committed to transparency and accountability like Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
“So, with detailed examination or review of some of these documents, the council has made some landmark decisions. The first decision is that we have resolved to constitute an administrative panel of investigation immediately to examine the issues at stake.
“This administrative panel has three months to complete its assignment and report back to council to decide on the way forward.”
She said Yusuf was suspended to allow for unencumbered, unfettered space to do a thorough investigation.
Fielding questions on what the council would do, should the Presidency overrule its decision and reinstate Yusuf as it did earlier, Ifenne said she didn’t envisage such an action.
