Senate committee promises adequate funding for State House Clinic

By Sanni Onogu and Tony Akowe, Abuja

The Senate on Thursday told officials of the State House in Abuja to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari no longer embarks on foreign medical trips.

The Upper Chamber said this would be achieved by making the State House Clinic fully functional to meet the President’s and other government officials’ medical needs.

The Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs stated this when the Permanent Secretary of the State House, Tijani Umar, defended his 2021 budget estimates before the panel.

Umar had presented a budget proposal of N19.7 billion for the 2021 fiscal year, out of which N1.3 billion was earmarked for the State House Clinic.

Although Committee Chairman Danjuma La’ah said the panel would approve the budget for the State House Clinic, he advised that the President and other top officials of his administration should no longer be flown abroad for medical treatment.

“Our President is not a man to be taken out anytime or anything that happens to him on sickness matters.

“He must attend our clinic here and we must make sure that we equip our hospital to the best of our ability so that any emergency will be first taken care of here before flying out, if the need arises,” La’ah said.

Also, the House Committee on Army has called for an increase in the 2021 capital projects for the Nigerian Army to purchase arms and ammunition needed to combat criminal elements across the country.

Committee Chairman Abdulrazaq Namdas said this during budget defence by the Nigeria Army on Thursday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigerian Army is proposing a budget of N509 billion for its operations in 2021 appropriation.

This is higher than the N463 billion that was proposed in 2020 appropriation.

Namdas said N27 billion allocated for capital projects was grossly inadequate, adding that if bandits, kidnapers, Boko Haram and other criminal elements hear this, they would think Nigeria does not have money to arrest their criminality.

The lawmaker noted that kidnapping, banditry, cattle rustling, insurgency, among others, which appeared to have ravaged the country, showed that the Army had more on its hand to deal with.

Lt.-Gen. Lamidi Adeosun, who represented the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Yusuf Buratai, said the Army had been using the money released for infrastructure and training.

He added that where there were lapses the Army would improve to get a better result.