NDIC dissociates self from alleged $76 million scandal linked to staff
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has dissociated itself from the alleged $76 million scandal involving its staff. Recall that there were media reports of alleged $76 million cash hoarded in a house in Apo District of Abuja in 2020, which was linked to a manager at the NDIC, Aisha Sadiq Odariko, and a former director, Special Projects and Permanent Secretary, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) in the Office of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Kyari Dikwa,
According to the reports, scrap metal scavengers, who were looking for COVID-19 palliatives in the house, now identified as Dikwa’s Office, stumbled on the cash and made away with $4 million.
Reacting to the report, the Director, Communications and Public Affairs, NDIC, Bashir Nuhu, in a statement, said while the corporation was assessing the veracity of the incident, the alleged event was unrelated to the agency’s operations. Nuhu said the Federal institution is committed to uncovering the truth and appropriately addressing the matter.
According to him, the agency, during preliminary investigations into the allegations, discovered that the staff member in question was previously employed at a commercial bank as an account officer to the former permanent secretary, Dikwa, before joining the NDIC in 2017.
He said the staff involved in the report asserted that she was not involved in any improper financial transactions with anyone during her tenure at the bank. Nuhu said NDIC, however, remains diligent in its pursuit of any contradictory information and will not hesitate to take appropriate action should it arise concerning the staff member.
“The attention of the management of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation has been drawn to the media report by the peoples’ Gazette and Sahara Reporters regarding allegations of financial impropriety involving one of our staff members.
“The NDIC maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards financial impropriety and any actions that contravene our core values, corporate culture, and code of conduct.
“We wish to emphasise that the NDIC is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in our corporate governance practices, which we have diligently cultivated over the past three decades of our existence in fulfilling our role of depositor protection and contributing to financial system stability,” he said
