The reported $76 million controversy involving its employees has been denied by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). Recall that in 2020, there were media reports alleging that $76 million in cash was hidden in a home in Abuja’s Apo District.
These reports were connected to Aisha Sadiq Odariko, a manager at the NDIC, and Dr. Mohammed Kyari Dikwa, a former director of special projects and permanent secretary of the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA).
Scrap metal scavengers reportedly found the money while searching the home, now known as Dikwa’s Office, for COVID-19 palliatives, and made off with $4 million.
The NDIC’s Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Bashir Nuhu, responded to the report by saying that while the organization was determining the validity of the occurrence, the purported event had nothing to do with the agency’s work.
Nuhu said that the Federal institution is dedicated to learning the facts and handling the situation responsibly.
He claims that during initial inquiries into the charges, the organization learned that the staff member in question had previously worked as an account officer for the former permanent secretary, Dikwa, at a commercial bank before joining the NDIC in 2017.
According to him, the employees who worked on the study claimed she didn’t engage in any questionable financial dealings with anyone while working at the bank.
However, according to Nuhu, NDIC continues to be attentive in its search for any contrary information and would not hesitate to take the necessary measures if any emerges regarding 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.
