Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned that snakes, termites, monkeys, rodents and other mysterious animals must not be allowed to swallow the $1.07 billion earmarked for the health sector in the 2025 budget proposal.
In a statement on Sunday, Atiku noted that bizarre claims of animals swallowing public money were rampant in recent years without any attempt by the relevant authorities to investigate the claims or punish the culprits.
“Against the backdrop of dwindling resources that have been exacerbated by the withdrawal of support in certain areas of our healthcare services, it is important that every kobo budgeted for the health sector has to be maximally utilised.
“To this end, the Federal Government has to be deliberate about putting mechanisms in place for public audit and accountability in its $1.07 billion budgetary appropriation in the health sector,” Atiku said.
The former VP specifically queried the government for not providing comprehensive information on how it planned to expend over $1 billion in the primary health sector.
He noted that while healthcare, especially the primary sector, “deserves rapid investment to promote access to quality and affordable health services to Nigerians, it will be immoral of the government not to provide extensive details” of how the money allotted for the purpose would be dispensed.
“We have read that the Federal Government has a plan to expend a whopping $1.07 billion in the primary health sector. This amount is in addition to the N2.48 trillion, which had earlier been proposed for the sector in the initial draft of the budget.
“This development gets even more troubling when the government equally announced that the $1.07 billion it is adding to the health sector at the sub-national level was mainly sourced through foreign loans and a fraction of it being provided through an international donor agency”, Atiku added.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general election said the failure of the Federal Government not to commit to a single physical infrastructure in expanding the budgetary provision smacked of fraud.
“Undoubtedly, the Tinubu administration has failed woefully in the health sector because of the poor funding of the sector. The major diseases in the primary health sector remain malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
“If Tinubu’s administration meant well in its claim to prioritise the health of Nigerians, his government should explain how it plans to spend this intervention fund in addressing these diseases in the primary health sector.”
