MINISTER of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole yesterday shocked members of the Senate Committee on Health when he informed the committee that the original budget of his ministry had been largely distorted.

He claimed that strange figures were smuggled into the budget.

The minister’s revelation might have reinforced the Senate’s claim that the 2016 budget had been tampered with.

The minister urged the committee to discard the budget proposal before it and await a new estimate to be re-submitted today. He assured members of the committee that the new proposal would reflect the programmes of the health sector for the year.

Adewole’s revelation forced Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Lanre Tejuosho, to convene a closed door session with the minister apparently to discuss the development.

The minister told the committee that there were some health issues on which conclusions had not been made by the ministry and yet allocations were made on them without the ministry’s knowledge.

Adewole insisted that the provisions of the budget before the National Assembly was in contrast with the priorities of the health sector as contained in the original budget it prepared and submitted to the budget office.

He noted that some of the votes earmarked by the ministry for some activities had been re-distributed while some important areas in the sector had been excluded.

He said: “In the revised budget as re-submitted, N15.7 billion for capital allocation has been moved to other areas. Some allocations made are not in keeping with our priorities. There is nothing allocated to public health and family health. Over the last two years, nothing has been done on HIV…

“We have to look into the details of the budget and re-submit it to the committee. This was not what we submitted. We’ll submit another one. We don’t want anything foreign to creep into that budget. What we submitted is not there. We have not reached that stage and we find the money there.”

The committee chairman noted that given the submission of the minister, the budget before the committee was not the proposal of the Health Ministry.

He added that it would be out of place to work on a budget that had already been disowned by the minister.

He said: “Honourable minister, we need to have an executive session. You said about this budget that public health is not there. Obviously, the budget we are looking at now is not your own.”

Adewole responded: “Yes, it’s not. We’ll submit the revised document tomorrow (today). It will be an updated version of what you have.”

The minister also said State House Clinic to which N3.9 billion had been allocated in the budget at the expense of other hospitals put together which got far less allocations, is not under the supervision of the Ministry of Health.

He explained that the clinic is under the Presidency.

Adewole said the figure might not have been the original allocation to the clinic by State House, noting that the original allocation might have been inflated by the same forces, which, he said, had distorted his ministry’s original estimates.

Tejuosho noted that since the minister said that State House Clinic was not under the watch of the Health Ministry, it also implied that the Health Committee’s oversight function did not extend to the clinic.

He added that it is the responsibility of the Special Duties’ Committee to engage the State House on the budget for the clinic.

The minister allayed the fears of Nigerians about Zika virus that is ravaging some countries.

He noted that the virus had been in the country since 1954, but had been unable to harm citizens because Nigerians had developed strong resistance to it.

The minister said the virus should be ignored.

dalyricist:
Bet why naija

Adewole said the figure might not have been the original allocation to the clinic by State House, noting that the original allocation might have been inflated by the same forces, which, he said, had distorted his ministry’s original estimates

luvmijeje:


Who the heck are the forces? I hate this kind of helpless statement. The health minister should the needful by reporting the forces to the EFCC.

oduastates:

Only if you knew how Nigeria works.
A friends name was deleted from university admission list to be replaced by another person . We are talking about the abacha years and not the Dubai generation of thieves.
You can read the story below

ZKOSOSO:
Pure 419ers in Power!
God save us from karachika APC!!

Udo Udoma should speak up...
all am seeing in the spirit is the typical handiwork of KADUNA MAFIA....of the days of Northern military Dictators....

Evil people!!

Achuwa1:
[s]What kind of govt.is pmb & Apc realling running...
how can the govt.include the budget of a ministry it has no prior consultation with or requested the ministries budget from them b4 sending figures to the national assembly.
is tht how all the ministry figures were permutated without consulting or requesting the ministries budget b4 including outrageous figures on them & send to the national assembly..
i hope this not same budget the national assembly is claiming to pass on the 24th,coz if its same budget,they bettr have a rethink & scrutinise the budget ministry by ministry & parastal by parastal coz tht budget looks very suspicious with all this revelation[/s]

Pavarottii:
In a saner country. People should av lost their jobs and jailed for manipulating such an important document like the budget.

Buhari is really a dullard. So such criminality can happen right under his nose and he is not even aware.

Let's watch and see, this administration will be one of the most corrupt administration after Abacha, IBB and OBJ.

Good riddance to APC!(All Past Criminals)

Iroh88:
Hey, ipod youth, some of the Goats the Ineffectual Buffoon left behind, AKA the Budget Mafia, are back to their grind but let me assure yall Wailing IPADs, they will definitely be found and out and ruthlessly dealt with.

Ready your placards because you'd need them for another round of street exercise- some of your Role Models and recalcitrant Goats are about to be served very humble pies.

gunuvi:
Kikikikikiki. Clowns

fitzmayowa:



[s]When will they be found out When they have successfully embarrassed the government, showing how careless they are with the so called "budget of change", and here you are yapping about some IPAD/IPOD/IPOB youth...


Oga don't let your sycophancy blind you to the truth...SMH[/s]

Iroh88:
Dust up your placards I say, or is that too much to ask of an Ipod youth?? Isn't that what you do best??

Pavarottii:
In a saner country. People should av lost their jobs and jailed for manipulating such an important document like the budget.

Buhari is really a dullard. So such criminality can happen right under his nose and he is not even aware.

Let's watch and see, this administration will be one of the most corrupt administration after Abacha, IBB and OBJ.

Good riddance to APC!(All Past Criminals)