By Joshua Egbodo
Abuja
House of Representatives has directed investigation into how over N11 billion budget on the State House Clinic, partly by the administration of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, and under President Muhammadu Buhari, has been expended, without commensurate results.
The resolution followed a motion on the “need to investigate the deplorable condition of the State House Clinic, and the alleged deductions from the salaries and allowances of the medical staff”, sponsored by Hon. Henry Archibong.
Achibong, while leading debate on the motion, said the clinic has, over the years, been receiving annual budgetary allocations to procure equipment to function optimally, recalling that in the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Appropriation Acts, the Clinic was allocated the sums of N3.94 billion, N3.87 billion and N3.2 billion, respectively for upgrading and provision of necessary drugs and equipment, totalling N11.01 billion.
According to the lawmaker, despite the huge budgetary allocations, the Clinic lacked necessary facilities, such as syringes, drugs and other facilities needed for operations.
The sorry state of the clinic recently got the attention of the first lady, Aisha Buhari, who made a public condemnation of the situation, especially on her inability to access a simple service at an institution of such status.
Achibong said, if this pathetic situation could persist in a hospital that is expected to cater for the health needs of the presidency, “you can imagine what will happen elsewhere. It is a shame on this nation.
“This is unacceptable. Less than three years of this government, this amount has been spent. It is unacceptable that the Permanent Secretary and the Minister have not resigned. It cannot happen in other smaller countries. Is this the change we have been waiting for?”
The House, in its resolution said it would set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the matter, and report back within three weeks.
