JONAS EZIEKE , Abuja
Some members of the House of Representatives Committee on Healthcare Services were furious and have raised eyebrows over the whooping sum of N300 million budgeted by the Federal Ministry of Health for Ministerial Retreat in the 2024 and 2025 budget of the ministry.
The House Committee had engaged the Minister of Health Prof.Muhammad Ali Pate and some top officials of the Ministry over the 2025 budget of the ministry and its agencies on Friday at the National Assembly Abuja.
During the budget session, a member of the Committee Hon.Billy Osawaru (Edo, APC) had noticed a line item of N300 million budgeted for Ministerial Retreat by the ministry for the fiscal year
The lawmaker immediately queried the Minister asking why that huge sum should be budgeted and fully released to the ministry by the federal government in 2024 would be said to be fully utilized whereas other line items of the budget were not the case.
This observation particularly infuriated the Chairman of the House Committee on Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria Control Hon.Amobi Ogar(Abia, LP) who said that the ministry is not doing enough to address health issues in the country.
He asked the Minister what the federal ministry is doing to tackle issues of malaria and other health issues in the country adding that in most hospitals the drugs for treatment are not available.
Also speaking in the same vein, a member of the House Committee Hon.Bashir Dawodu (Lagos, APC) asked the ministry to account for millions of naira in its personnel cost in the previous year’s budget asking when the ministry recruited its staff in a nationwide exercise.
He asked the minister to explain the percentage of the ministry’s annual budget dedicated to social welfare.
However, the Minister in his response assured the lawmakers that the federal ministry is working to advance the welfare of all Nigerians.
Chairman of the House Committee Hon.Amos Magaji nonetheless assured that the Committee would effectively engage in oversight visits to the Ministry and its agencies on the implementation of the annual budget.
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