The House of
Representatives’ committee on health on Wednesday summoned the Minister of
Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma; Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; and
the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele; to explain
why they classified the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as a revenue
generating institution which should pay ‘operating surplus’ to the federation
account.
Also
summoned are the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole; and the Accountant General
of the Federation, Ahmed Idris.
The decision
followed the submission of the newly reinstated Executive Secretary of NHIS,
Usman Yusuf, who appeared before it to give an update on the status of the
re-accreditation exercise for Health Management Organisations (HMOs) which had
been suspended at the instance of the committee to allow for audit of their
activities.
The
committee demanded clarification on a recent report that the executive
secretary had been indicted in a fresh N10 billion fraud at the agency, an
allegation which the executive secretary dismissed and described as malicious
and untrue.
The official
who was suspended months ago by the minister of health on allegations of fraud
and official impropriety was recently reinstated by President Muhammadu Buhari
despite public consternation.
Mr. Yusuf,
at the hearing, said funds under the NHIS is a trust which must be taken
seriously.
He explained
that the N10 billion was deducted from its TSA (Treasury Single Account)
account with the CBN by the Ministry of Finance, which had informed him via a
letter that the NHIS ought to be a revenue generating agency and by
implication, ought to pay its operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue
Fund.
He however
said he had since protested the inclusion of the scheme among revenue earners
as this is not captured in the Act establishing NHIS.
On the re-accreditation
of the 57 HMOs whose licences expired last year, Mr. Yusuf said preliminary
report on their evaluation had been submitted and is being considered.
He said one
of the conditions they must meet is the provision of a certificate of
non-indebtedness from the hospitals they served.
He added
that he had almost become a ‘debt collector’ as a result of the failings of the
HMOs. He warned the HMOs to either sit up or be dragged to the EFCC.
“I am tired
of being a debt collector,” Mr. Yusuf said.
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