Billion naira fraud uncovered in NITEL

[Richard Akindele]

BARELY 24 hours after the sale of the Nigerian Telecommunication (NITEL) to Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), a fraud running into billions of naira has been uncovered, forcing eight of the management staff to resign their appointment with the company.

The discovery of the fraud and the resignation of the eight staff in the NITEL headquarters, Abuja, followed the report of the administrative committee set up earlier by the Minister of Communications, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, to investigate alleged mismanagement of NITEL pension fund.

In the report, which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune, entitled: “Summary of Report of Committee on NITEL Pension Fund,� the committee that investigated the issue was set up by the chairman, Technical Board of NITEL/MTEL, who is also the Minister of Communications, following the spate of allegations of management of pension fund of NITEL.

It was alleged that the resignation of the eight staff members might be due to fear that they would be arrested for fraud and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).