The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and other officials in the portfolio have been threatened with an arrest warrant by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts for mismanaging more than N5.7 billion in donor monies from international organizations. At a Panel hearing on Friday, the Committee’s Chairman, Senator Matthew Urhogbide, stated that the ministry has not provided an account of the funds used, leaving the committee with little choice but to issue a Warrant of Arrest on the officials. Urhogbide bemoaned the fact that certain donors had suspended aid because of alleged financial mismanagement following unsatisfactory reports from the Ministry of Health departments.
One of the donor organizations is the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, an international non-governmental organization that specializes in bringing together the public and private sectors with the goal of ensuring that children living in the world’s poorest countries have equal access to new and underutilized vaccines. The 2016 Auditor General’s Report, which is now under examination, exposed the mismanagement.
According to a copy of the Auditor-inquiry General’s, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency spent more than N8 billion between January 1, 2010, and March 31, 2015, of which more than N187 million was unsupported by any paperwork.
