The Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Wednesday, approved N9.24 billion for the 2022/2023 Group Life Insurance cover for public servants.
The Council also admitted that the Whistle-blowing policy launched on December 21, 2016, by the Federal government and facilitated through the Federal Ministry of Finance to encourage citizens to voluntarily disclose information about fraud, bribery, looted government funds, financial misconduct, government assets and any other form of corruption or theft to the ministry, has lost momentum.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Council’s meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Ahmed, who spoke on the approval of the memorandum, which she noted as presented to council by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan, explained that the insurance is meant to cover all government officials.
According to her: “The Head of Service of the Federation presented a memo to Council on Group Life Insurance Cover for the period 2022 to 2023. This is an insurance cover that is covering all government officials in all government agencies, paramilitary and intelligence agencies. Council approved the total sum of N9.24 billion for the insurance cover for 2022 to 2023.
“As you know, the insurance will take effect from the date of payment and in Nigeria, by our laws, the insurance cover is 30 percent of the annual emolument of any staff of government that is deceased and this cover is paid by the insurance company to the beneficiaries of the deceased staff,” she said.
Speaking on the policy of whistle blowing, the minister said that the policy rewards a whistle blower who provides information about any financial mismanagement or tip about any stolen funds to the ministry’s portal with 2.5 percent five percentage from the recovered funds by the Nigerian government.
She said the council approved the draft bill to strengthen the fight against corruption and to also enable protection for whistleblowers that provide information for use by government.
She said: “The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning presented a number of memos today. The first is the draft whistleblower bill for 2022. This memo has been reviewed by council and approved with a provision to ensure alignment with the Evidence Act.
“The purpose of operationalizing and putting in place a whistleblower bill is to strengthen the fight against corruption and to also enable protection for whistleblowers that provide information for use by government.
“As you know, since 2016, the council had approved the setting up of the Presidential Initiative of Continuous Audit, PICA. PICA has been working in partnership with EFCC, ICPC, DSS, NFIU as well as the office of the Attorney General of the Federation.
“We noticed that the whistleblower policy response has lost momentum. We embarked on engagements in the six geo-political zones and one of the main outcome that we found is that people are concerned about their safety as a result of providing information. So, this bill is critical to ensure the effectiveness of the retention of the whistle policy.”
Ahmed further said that the council approved the Finance Bill 2022 that was designed to support the implementation of the 2023 budget.
The minister said the council also approved the memo for the design, construction and supply of nine numbers Ballistic Riverian assault boats, as well as nine numbers patrol boats with all associated accessories in favor of Messers Sewa West African limited in the sum of N689,722,681.30 inclusive of 7.5 percent VAT for the Nigerian customs service.
The Minister of State for Budget, Clem Agba, said the Council also approved the revised National Social Protection Policy presented by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
He explained that the revised national social protection policy was an offshoot of a previous policy that was implemented from 2017 to 2020.
The review was carried out in collaboration with all relevant ministries departments and agencies at both the federal and state levels as well as other key stakeholders, including development partners.
The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, said Council approved the contract for procurement of 20 number transformer ratio analyzer awarded to Segulu Stembek Global Services Ltd, at the sum of N564,231,854.08 with 7.5 percent VAT with a completion new period of four months.
He said the transformer tons, ratio analyzers is a state-of-the-art device for reliable testing and diagnosing of power transformers, noting that the device used before has become obsolete.