The Senate has vowed to begin an investigation into the alleged abuse of over $400 million donated by Global Fund to fight polio scourge in Nigeria even as it said it will also monitor the disbursement and utilization of the $1.5 million grant disbursed by the Federal Government to the 36 states of the federation as the first tranche of money under the Saving One Million Lives Program for Results (SOMLPforR).
The
chairman of the Senate Committee on Primary Healthcare and Communicable
Diseases, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, disclosed this at a press briefing to
mark the World Polio Day in Abuja on Monday.
Hallowmace recalls that a Geneva-based Global Alliance for Vaccines and
Immunisation (GAVI) had indicted Nigeria for alleged misappropriation of
funds meant to immunise millions of children against polio virus.
Both
the Ministry of Health and the National Primary Health Care Development
Agency (NPHCDA) are also implicated in a alleged fraud after an audit
conducted by GAVI revealed that over $400 million disbursed for
procurement of vaccines was abused.
“In
this wise, my committee will ensure its statutory oversight functions
of key government agencies and parastatals are conducted as at when due
with a view to ensuring probity and accountability on how
health-related, primary health care (PHC) services are funded and
implemented.
“Additionally,
we want to reassure all donors and partners of our resolve to ensure
donor funds are also well spent and that they reach the masses that need
them. Key funding agencies like Global Fund, GAVI and several others
will be engaged by my committee to ensure mistakes of the past are
avoided and that funds from these donors are used judiciously.
“We
cannot afford mistakes of the past where funds for developmental
projects from donors are improperly managed leading to sanctions on
Nigeria from these donors. We cannot continue to be disgraced as a
nation through mismanagement of donor funds and must work hard to gain
or regain the trust of all donors, bilateral and multi-lateral
partners,” he said.
On
the $1.5 million grant to the state governments by the federal
government, Ohuabunwa said: “The committee will like to review the
process of how certain decisions were made with a view to strengthening
the whole grant system in a manner that makes monitoring the states more
rigorous thus making the states more accountable on how the funds are
used. The committee will work to ensure that only states that perform to
standard get more funding.”
The
committee chairman further pledged to ensure the Federal Government
lived up to its responsibility of funding the procurement of vaccines
and other critical primary health care services.
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