Civic tech non-profit organization advocating for transparency and accountability in public in Nigeria, BudgIT, says it has uncovered 115 projects allegedly duplicated and allocated to the Ministry of Health in the 2021 budget. A total of 316 duplicitous projects of almost N40bn was allegedly padded into the 2021 budget, according to BudgIT.“This is very disturbing, considering the health infrastructure deficit and the raging COVID-19 pandemic affecting Nigeria.”
Mr. Okeowo enjoined the Federal Government to urgently block all loopholes in the budget creation and implementation process, some of which, he said, were highlighted in the organization’s recent publication.
Reacting via its verified Twitter handle @4lowthemoney, Follow The Money Int’l, a social accountability movement, said, “According to this BudgIT analysis, the 2021 budget is padded with 316 duplicitous projects of almost N40bn.
“And wow, 115 of the fake projects are for Federal Ministry of Health. That’s the same ministry where N3bn went missing, based on AG’s 2018 report.”
Our correspondent’s attempt to obtain the Health Minister, Dr. Osagie Ehanire’s response was not successful.
As of the time of filing this report on Tuesday, Ehanire had yet to respond to our correspondent’s tweet demanding his reaction to the allegations via his verified Twitter handle @DrEOEhanire.
Same for the Federal Ministry of Health, which also had yet to respond via its verified Twitter handle @Fmohnigeria.
source: Punch
