Snakes, Termites, Monkeys Must Not Swallow $1.07bn 2025 Health Budget – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned the Federal Government against mismanaging the $1.07 billion allocated to the health sector in the 2025 budget, insisting that Nigerians deserve full transparency on how the funds will be spent.

In a statement he personally signed on Sunday, Atiku expressed concern over the government’s lack of detailed plans for the funds, which were largely sourced from foreign loans and donor agencies.

“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 US$1.07 billion budgetary appropriation in the health sector,” Atiku said.

Referencing past absurd claims of snakes, termites, and monkeys swallowing public funds, Atiku cautioned that such excuses must not taint this crucial budget.

He emphasised the need for a transparent and accountable system to monitor the expenditure of the allocated funds.

He criticised the administration for failing to provide comprehensive details on how the money will be spent, warning that without air jordan 3 black cement 2024 a transparent framework, the allocation could be misused.

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“We have read that the Federal Government has a plan to expend a whopping sum of $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 health 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.

“In other words, Nigeria is expected to pay these loans back and it is required that the Nigerian people know the details of these loans and that their expenditure must be conveyed in a policy envelope that will explain how it will be spent.”

Atiku also questioned the government’s commitment to infrastructure projects, citing an official health policy document.

“The funds will be directed towards improving governance in healthcare and enhancing primary healthcare services nationwide. This financing will support recruitment, training, and retention of healthcare workers and teachers at the sub-national level.”

He accused the government of lacking credibility and failing to invest adequately in healthcare.

“For an administration struggling with trust deficiency in the administration of its humanitarian services, Nigerians cannot take the risk of accepting a shoddy explanation on a budgetary provision that lacks a mechanism of tracking how the money is to be expended.

“It is difficult for Nigerians to believe the administration, given its proclivity to alternative truths, especially on their claims about investments in the social infrastructure.

“It is worrisome that the Tinubu administration continues to lie to Nigerians on the status of our tertiary hospitals when the sorry adidas Basic Insulated Μπουφάν state of those hospitals lies bare for Nigerians to see.

“Just recently, the government began a campaign of improvements in the standard of our tertiary health institutions, but Nigerians know that these teaching hospitals often lack basic amenities such as access to a steady supply of electricity.

“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 President 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 air jordan 4 military blue 2024 these diseases in the primary health sector.

“On the contrary, what the government announced in its panic response to President Donald Trump’s announcement of the cancellation of American aid for the treatment of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria was a paltry N5 billion.

“If the Tinubu administration fails to provide a comprehensive framework to safeguard its purported huge investment in the health sector nor subject the appropriations to the scrutiny of the National Assembly, it may be safe to conclude that this is another episode of the administration committing a fraud in the name of public interest.”