The Senate on Thursday told State House officials to restrain President Muhammadu Buhari from foreign trips for medical treatment in order to ensure the State House clinic is made functional this year.
The Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs gave the warning when the State House Permanent Secretary, Tijani Umar, appeared before the panel to defend his 2021 budget estimates.
The State House official had presented a budget of N19.7bn for 2021, out of which N1.3bn was proposed for the State House Clinic.
In a country that lacks basic medical facilities, medical tourism by government officials has become a contentious issue.
The Covid-19 pandemic pandemic exposed the weakness of Nigeria’s health sector, as hospitals lacked capacity to handle cases.
Chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Danjuma La’ah, declared that the committee would approve the budget for the State House Clinic but on the comditiom that the President and other top officials of his government should no longer be flown abroad for medical treatment.
The Permanent Secretary promised to put necessary arrangements in place to meet the medical needs of the President and other top officials once the budget was approved.
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