- FG to Meet Workers’ Union Over NAICOM Crisis
The Ministry of Finance will next week meet with the workers’ union in the National Insurance Commission over the petition written by it alleging mismanagement in the organisation.
The meeting, according to sources in the ministry, is a follow-up to the one earlier held last week with the management of the commission.
It was gathered that the need to meet with the union officials was to enable them to substantiate the allegations levelled against the Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari, and some members of his management team.
The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services’ Employees has been involved in industrial dispute with the management of the commission.
The dispute led to the shutdown of the NAICOM headquarters twice this year, the first in March, while the second took place on November 23.
The union also wrote a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, alleging mismanagement and breakdown of governance and administrative structure in the commission.
The development made the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Mahmoud Dutse, to intervene by summoning the management of NAICOM to a meeting last week Thursday.
Apart from for the allegation of mismanagement of funds and abuse of office by the management, the workers also called on the government to investigate the reason for the delay in migrating from the Compliance-Based Supervision to Risk-Based Supervision.
A top government official, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity as he was not officially permitted to speak on the matter, said that next week’s meeting with the union would be presided over by Dutse.
The official said, “You will recall that there was a meeting last week at the Finance ministry with the management of NAICOM, which was presided over by the Permanent Secretary. It was made clear in that meeting that all the allegations levelled against the management by the union would be independently investigated.
“The ministry has heard from the management team during last week’s meeting, and the next phase now is to meet with the workers’ union to enable them to substantiate their allegations.”
