Abdulmumini Demanded N1bn for Cottage Hospital, Says Okafor ...Accuses embattled lawmaker of inserting N500m in budget

Abdulmumini Demanded N1bn for Cottage Hospital, Says Okafor

*Accuses embattled lawmaker of inserting N500m in budget

 The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Healthcare Services, Hon. Chike Okafor, has alleged that the sacked Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumini, demanded the insertion of N1 billion for a cottage hospital for his Kiru/Bebeji constituency into the 2016 budget, a request which was rejected on grounds that the Health Committee did not have any loose funds. 

 

This, Okafor said, is Abdulmumini’s grouse, and why the embattled lawmaker chose to accuse him of “moving massive amounts of money” into the 2016 budget. 

 

Speaking with THISDAY yesterday, Okafor disclosed that the only project for his Ehime Mbano/Ihitte Uboma/Obowo federal constituency of Imo State is a primary health care centre for which N22 million was appropriated.

 

“I wonder why he is picking on me when there are three committee chairmen (Health Institutions, Aids/Tuberculosis and Malaria) overseeing the Health Ministry. We worked with our Senate counterparts and the minister, so how 

can I unilaterally put anything in the budget.

 

“I make bold to say same for the two other committee chairmen over sighting the Health Ministry. It was within our purview to propose budgets for our constituencies, but we didn’t have to fully appreciate the prevailing realities and peculiarities of the health ministry,” Okafor added. 

 

He also accused Abdulumumini of unilaterally inserting N500 million for the cottage hospital at the appropriation stage of the 2016 budget.

 

Okafor also challenged Abdulmumini to explain through which budgetary cuts he was able to mobilise N500 million for the cottage hospital, and another N1billion for the Kano Film Village. 

 

Okafor is one of 11 committee chairmen accused by Abdulmumini of ‘moving massive amount of money into the 2016 budget,’ alongside the House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara; Deputy Speaker Yussuff Sulaimon Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor who he accused of fraud and abuse of office.

 

The House has been embroiled in crises following the sack of Abdulmumini as Chairman of the Appropriation Committee by Dogara for alleged mismanagement of the budgetary process. 

Okafor’s statement reads:  “My attention has been drawn to a recent publication credited to the member representing Kiru-Bebeji Federal Constituency in Kano state, Abdulmumini, in which he made very unfortunate assertions about my person and position as Chairman, House Committee on Healthcare Services.

 

“My first impulse was to ignore the blabbing which was fast becoming his hallmark, but on a re-think, letting the lies fly without calling it by name may expose some gullible audience to the risk of choking on the mendacious gibberish that has become his biggest capital in recent times.”

“In the publication crawling with deliberate misrepresentations and willful lies designed to rope in any person within reach, Adbulmumini who referred to me as ‘Chairman, House Committee on Health’ open-endedly accused me of moving massive amount of money that made the exercise look like a big joke.

“Adbulmumini neither said where the money was moved from nor where it was moved. When you have been around and about in fiscal circles, you will know the signs when you see them-Adbulmumini is merely grasping for straws and clearly cuts a picture of a man who has reached the end of his tethers in a desperate bid to hide his smear in the crowd of imaginary culprits he conjures ‘daily’ with such voodoo-vibrancy, one begins to wonder where he left his honour.

“He accused me of unilaterally working the budget on health; my ‘personal estate’ he called it. And I really wondered-has this man really been with us in the House in body or in hologram?

 

“Even if his senses fail him, his eyes and ears should have told him that we have three committees of health that exercise oversight on the Ministry of Health namely: Committee on Health Institutions, Committee on Aids Tuberculosis and Malaria and Committee on Healthcare Services which I am the chairman.

 

“For clarity, I wish to state that the three committees often meet jointly with the minister and on the budget preparation; we jointly met with the minister and unanimously came to agreement that the ministry was barely meeting its obligations with the resources allocated to it. Having duly considered the nature and sensitivity of the Health Ministry, we easily understood the need to sustain the budget proposal as submitted.

“In any case, the proposed 2016 health budget which accounts for 4.23 percent of the 2016 annual budget, it’s not only inadequate but also a far cry from the 15 percent stipulated at the Abuja declaration in April 2001, when heads of state of African Union countries met in Abuja and pledged to prioritise the development of the health sector by allocating at least 15 percent of their annual budgets to improve the sector.

 

“So without any ambiguity whatsoever, we  clearly understood the uniqueness of the health ministry with more than six agencies and 55 parastatals under it; with multiple health and health-related programmes involving donor agencies and global partners, any of which could jeopardize healthcare delivery in the country if tinkered.”

“The Minister for Health also communicated same to the Senate committee. So I challenge Abdulmumini and anyone who stands with him in this voyage to infamy, to scrutinize the health budget and check under my constituency if there is any extraneous project added to my constituency and of course I make bold to say the same for the two other committee chairmen over sighting the Health Ministry. It was within our purview to propose projects for our constituencies but we didn’t have to because we fully appreciate the prevailing realities and peculiarities of the health ministry.”

Okafor added that: “As a matter of fact, if there was any insertion in the health budget, it would have been done at the appropriation stage like the N500 million hospital project that was unilaterally inserted by him during appropriation.

“It is no longer news that Abdulmumin was removed from the appropriation committee for fraud-related issues. The public had expected a sane and sobering reaction and not this misadventure of a drowning man trying so desperately to tear down everything on his path to ‘self-preservation.

 

“Abdumumini should be told that attempting to scandalize honourable members with baseless and sensationalised allegations, cannot repudiate his misdeeds. And like a famed Nigerian poet would say to him, ‘nakedness won’t offer you clothes’.

 

“The change mantra of our party starts from the mind; reflects on our daily lives and quality of our service. I will advise Abdulmumin to re-evaluate his interests and priorities. I will ask Abdulmumin to speak truth to himself and restore his honour while its yet day.”