Head of Service, Oyo-Ita denies claims N16bn was stolen from her office

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, has debunked reports claiming that N16 billion meant for Civil Servants Group Life Insurance Scheme (GLIS), was stolen in her office.

Oyo-Ita gave the clarification on Friday while speaking in Abuja at the venue of the stakeholders’ forum on the review of Public Service Rules (PSR).

She was reacting to an online news publisher, the Leading Reporters Nigeria, that alleged that Oyo-Ita and others stole N16 billion meant for GLIS.

But Oyo-Ita, who reacted to the allegations while interacting with newsmen, said that the allegation was false and not worth reacting to.

“I will not want to address the very fallacious news item making the rounds as regards N16 billion missing from the GLIS funds.

“I want to say that whoever started that story does not quite understand how the group life works.

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“The GLIS was set up to be able to ensure that government meets up with benefits of any civil or public servant who, in the process of doing his work as a civil servant, loses his or her life.

“This GLIS is the policy that is carried out with underwriters; these underwriters are being regulated by the National Insurance Commission (NIC),” she explained.

She noted that the NIC regulates premiums that are paid to these underwriters and the last group life programme was actually handled by the sub-committee of the cabinet chaired by the then Minister of Finance.

“The fund for that programme is always domiciled with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

“The only thing that the Head of Service does is to compile the names of all the Ministries, Department and Agencies(MDAs), that are to be under the group life policy.

“For someone to say that N16 billion has gone missing in my office is strange to me and to many others who understand how the GLIS works.”

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