FG adamant, says Kokori was never NSITF chair nominee

• Buhari only approved him as chairman Michael Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies (MINILS)
• Details of Ngige’s row with NLC emerge

There were strong indications yesterday that the Federal Government did not at any time nominate labour hero, Comrade Frank Kokori as chairman of the board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).

Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige only recommended Kokori to head the Board of the Michael Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies (MINILS), highly placed sources told The Nation yesterday.

It was learnt that President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Kokori as the chairman of the labour institute and not NSITF.


It was gathered that following an alleged N62,358,401,927 scandal in NSITF and the recommendations of the Administrative Panel of Enquiry, the minister sought the help of the immediate past Commissioner for Insurance of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to shop for a chairman who could help in reforming NSITF.

The search led to the appointment of Mr. Austin Enajemo – Isire, who the Minister had never met, by President Muhammadu Buhari.

These details are contained in a document on the face-off between the Minister and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

The fact-sheet sighted by our correspondent sheds light on the appointment of a chairman for the NSITF and the disagreement between the NLC and Ngige.

The fact-sheet says: “The appointment of the Chairman for the Board of NSITF is a straight forward engagement by the Minister recommending a fit and proper neutral person to Mr. President for appointment. So also even for the appointment of the MD and EDs.

“Here the ILO principle on tripartite representation comes into play which in this situation does not permit any of the partners to dictate to another on who is to represent them in a meeting, consultations, negotiation or on any joint venture like the NSITF, provided the person nominated has no criminal record against the law of that country.

“So when NLC President approached the Hon. Minister some time in 2017 to inform him that he and other Social Partner, the then Director-General of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association ( NECA) submitted an NSITF Chairman nominee to the office of the Vice President, the Minister bluntly told him that it was incongruous for NLC or NECA to do so as it breached the Law and was also an erosion of the Minister’s function to nominate fit and proper persons to the offices listed in the Act.

“Further investigations by the Minister revealed that NECA DG at the time did not participate nor had any hand in the so-called nomination. The Minister promptly wrote to the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to point out the anomaly, and informed him that by his discussion with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the NSITF was a specialized board that its Chairman needed to be shopped for, more so with the peculiar financial distress afflicting the organization.