Niger State Assembly queries Covid-19 procurements
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From Mathew Jwantu, Minna
The Niger state House of Assembly has queried a N190m fund used by the State Ministry of Health to purchase equipment for Covid-19 treatment.
Commissioner for Health, Dr Muhammed Makusidi had in a quiz session told the lawmakers that his Ministry had spent over N190million on “equipment purchased for the treatment and containment of covid-19”.
The State COVID-19 taskforce last week told the House that it spent N795, 015, 000 on its activities, with a different amount stated for equipment purchase.
“Some things are conflicting from the presentation he (Chairman of the COVID-19 task force) made last week and the document presented today by Chairman,” queried Chairman of the House Committee on Health, Maliki Madaki.
“He told us last week that they have spent N795, 015, 000 so far including the N85million paid to the AEDC for power supply during the lockdown but he backtrack today that the N85million wasn’t part of their expenses.
“We also discovered that the N808,636, 000 was the amount spent from the document presented while N76million spent on fumigation of the entire state wasn’t part of the total amount,” he said.
The Health Commissioner, Matane claimed the errors identified were computational.
The committee demanded rectifications and accurate figures presented before any further discussions can hold on the matter
