N1.3bn approved for Villa clinic too small – Perm sec
November 6, 2020
The Permanent Secretary of the State House, Tijani Umar, has said the N1.3bn approved for Villa clinic was too small.
He spoke in an interview with journalists on Thursday after defending 2012 budget estimate before the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs State.
The Permanent Secretary who promised to put necessary arrangements in place to meet the medical needs of the President and other top officials once the budget was approved said, “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’ll 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.
“We have realigned some many things and one of the fundamental challenges we have dealt with is the sustainable supply of drugs and consumables.”
Earlier, the Senate told officials of the State House to discourage the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), from foreign trips for medical treatment by ensuring that the State House clinic becomes functional.
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. The Chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Danjuma La’ah, said the committee would approve the budget for the State House Clinic but the President and other top officials should no longer be flown abroad for medical treatment.
He said, “Our President is not a man to be taken out anytime or whenever anything happens to him on sickness matter.”
Punch
About The Author
About the Author: Starnews NG
Related Posts
- FRSC seizes 222 trailers conveying 3,169 passengers The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) inter-agency task force has apprehended 222 trailers transporting 3,169 passengers across Niger, Bauchi, Taraba, and Kaduna states. The task force, established to curb the transportation of passengers alongside goods, aims to reduce road traffic accidents and associated casualties caused by the reckless conduct of trailer drivers. Corps Marshal Dauda Ali-Biu announced during a press briefing in Abuja that the initiative involves collaboration with various transport unions, security agencies, and traffic management authorities. “As part of the operations, the JTF dropped over 2,440 passengers who were mandated to take alternative vehicles designed for conveying passengers. “Since the commencement of the JTF on March 23, the monster of road traffic crashes involving trailers and the fatalities that come with them have been adequately tamed and the situation arrested on all fronts,” he said. Mr Ali-Biu added that the corps had gone a step further by prosecuting recalcitrant trailer drivers aside the conventional enforcement of traffic regulations. This, he said, was done through mobile courts in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT. “Subsequently, more drastic measures, including suspension and withdrawal of the national driver’s licence, will be carried out. “Permit me to reiterate at this critical moment that, on our part, as an agency of government charged with road safety supervision, we have resolved to continue in our strive to make the nation’s highways safe. “Part of our resolve is to consolidate on the gains recorded so far through the strategic combat operations of the joint task force. “We have decided to sustain the tempo by extending the operations of the JTF to other critical corridors across the nation. “The essence of this extension is to give it a holistic approach,” the corps marshal said.
FRSC seizes 222 trailers conveying 3,169 passengers The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) inter-agency task force has apprehended 222 trailers transporting 3,169 passengers across Niger, Bauchi, Taraba, and Kaduna states. The task force, established to curb the transportation of passengers alongside goods, aims to reduce road traffic accidents and associated casualties caused by the reckless conduct of trailer drivers. Corps Marshal Dauda Ali-Biu announced during a press briefing in Abuja that the initiative involves collaboration with various transport unions, security agencies, and traffic management authorities. “As part of the operations, the JTF dropped over 2,440 passengers who were mandated to take alternative vehicles designed for conveying passengers. “Since the commencement of the JTF on March 23, the monster of road traffic crashes involving trailers and the fatalities that come with them have been adequately tamed and the situation arrested on all fronts,” he said. Mr Ali-Biu added that the corps had gone a step further by prosecuting recalcitrant trailer drivers aside the conventional enforcement of traffic regulations. This, he said, was done through mobile courts in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT. “Subsequently, more drastic measures, including suspension and withdrawal of the national driver’s licence, will be carried out. “Permit me to reiterate at this critical moment that, on our part, as an agency of government charged with road safety supervision, we have resolved to continue in our strive to make the nation’s highways safe. “Part of our resolve is to consolidate on the gains recorded so far through the strategic combat operations of the joint task force. “We have decided to sustain the tempo by extending the operations of the JTF to other critical corridors across the nation. “The essence of this extension is to give it a holistic approach,” the corps marshal said.