NSITF: Our Target is to restore the confidence of contributors - Jasper Azuatalam

... As he pays an unscheduled visit to NSITF Owerri Ofiice

The new Executive Director, Finance and Investment Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund ( NSITF) comrade Jasper Azuatalam has on Friday 5th of May, paid an unscheduled visit to the Owerri office of NSITF, in what will be his first outing since assuming office on 2nd day May, 2017.

Upon his arrival at the office at about 8:40am he was shocked out of his skin, as He was being conducted round by Mr. Fidelis Okolo-Olisa, a senior manager and head of Claims and compensation.

Addressing the staff of the office, later, Mr. Azuatalam averred that NSITF is one of the Biggest Government agencies because it has for its concerns, the social security of the people. According to him, "Our target is to tackle the inherent corruption in NSITF and restore contributors' confidence, so as to boost the emoluments of the agency". He decried the ugly situation whereby the Owerri office which has a very high monthly wage bill yet makes very low returns from contributors.

He lamented that this is the worst NSITF office he knows in the country and promised to make a case for a new lease of life for the Owerri office of the the agency.

Narrating their ordeal, the Owerri Branch Manager, Mrs Chinwe Unamma lamented that the office operates on two flats, which is evidently poorly furnished, ill-equipped, and has no power supply and completely insecure. She decried the incessant cases of burgling that has become the lot of the office and pleaded that the Executive Director should use his good office to lend a voice to the various letters she had written to the past leadership of agency, bemoaning their fate and asking for the relocation of the office to a more strategic location to ensure a safe working environment for the staff. According to Mrs. Unamma, the office which is sited around Imo State University students' hostel area as well a bank neighbourhood exposes the staff to risks.

Mr. Jasper Azuatalam held an emergency town hall meeting with the entire staff, for a chance to hear from them directly after which he went into a closed door meeting with the various unit heads.

In a related development, a staff of NSITF Owerri Office, has been admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of Federal Medical Center, Owerri, following gunshot wounds sustained during a robbery incident that took place around the office premises moments after the Executive Director's visit. An eye witness account has it that a gang of armed robbers swooped on a bank customer and when they met resistance from the policeman attached to the customer, there was exchange of bullet leading to the death of the policeman with scores of people mortally wounded. The name of the hospitalised staff of NSITF Owerri office could not be ascertained at press time.