406 Sacked Staff To Face Criminal Charges : NIMC

Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mr. Chris Onyemenam has revealed that the 406 disengaged staff would be facing criminal charges as required by the constitution.

The commission explained that the reason it delayed the sack of the 406 staff despite the court order issued in its favour last December was because it decided to thread  the line of caution.

  

The Director General  disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja where he also denied embezzling N30 billion meant for the production of the National Identity card.

He  stressed that the case of the affected staff had been handed over to the appropriate authority.

  

According to him, "It is not true that NIMC has planned to sack or retrench 1,000 workers. However 406 senior members of staff who falsified their service records and thus have been profiting from that fraud, have been formally reported to the appropriate offices for further action."

  

He added that, "Embezzlement of N30 billion again is misunderstanding of the facts that has been interpreted to suit the presenter's purpose. In September 2011 government approved N30.066 billion from the procurement of cards and the accelerated expansion of the back end. And within budgetary constraints, we are very proud of the support we have received "

He revealed that the said money was meant for a period of three years and the commission had already received N17.2 billion out of the 30 billion, adding that N940 million was spent on the redundant staff sacked in 2012.

  

The DG noted that, "Management has ensured that all annual accounts of the NIMC are audited and approved by the Board before submission to the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation as required by law.

  

"It is also published on our website as part of an annual report on the NIMC for each year. The 2014 Accounts that has just been approved by the Board will be published shortly".

Onyemenam disclosed further that it was not true that management planned to declare redundancy or undertake any retrenchment.

  

"Management has not behaved with impunity nor did it disobey any Court Orders. All due processes were followed and appropriate approvals obtained as necessary by NIMC Management in the discharge of its duties," he noted.