The Senate on Thursday told State
House officials to restrain the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari
(retd), from foreign trips for medical treatment in order to ensure the State
House clinic becomes 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.
Reacting to the proposal, the
Chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Danjuma La’ah, said the committee would
approve the budget for the State House Clinic but insisted that the President
and other top officials of his government should no longer be flown abroad for
medical treatment.
In an interview with journalists
after defending his budget, 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.
He said, “We have appealed to the
committee to assist us with the presidential wing of the State House Clinic.
“The N1.3bn is absolutely
inadequate when you juxtapose the amount proposed, the labour, and the status
of the principals that the project is going to serve.
“When compared with worldwide
standards you see that it is not anything near what we need.
“It (the clinic), is considered a
legacy project for us because we want to leave something down.
“It is not correct to say the
state house clinic is in comatose. It is not.
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