The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has directed the state Ministry of Health to suspend utilisation of N1.8 billion under the Saving One Million Lives programme (SOML).
Speaker of the House, Ibrahim Abdullahi, announced the resolution after the Chairman, House Committee on Health, Labaran Shafa, raised the issue as a matter of urgent public importance at plenary on Tuesday in Lafia.
Abdullahi said that the House’s directive for the suspension of the programme was to enable the House Committee on Health to investigate the programme over lack of budgetary allocation.
He directed the Commissioner for Health, Mr. Ahmed Yahaya to appear before the health committee on March 18 by 10 a.m. for clarification of issues.
“We have resolved that the activities of the Saving One Million Lives Programme (SOML) in the state under the state ministry of Health are to be suspended for now.
“This is to allow the House standing Committee on Health to investigate SOML activities in the state because it was not captured in the 2020 budget and spending the N1.8bn outside budget allocation will be unconstitutional, hence the need to follow due process,” he said.
READ ALSO: Inmates of Nasarawa prisons eat up N818, 550 food daily – NPS
Earlier, Mr. Labaran Shafa (APC- Toto/Gadabuke), the Chairman, House Committee on Health, said that the N1.8bn for SOML had not been appropriated in this years budget.
He said that SOML was a good health programme aimed at improving the lives and health status of the people of the state, adding that the programmes fund would need legal backing.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that SOML is a Federal Government Intervention Health programme aimed at improving on the health status of the people.
Saving One Million Lives is a Federal Government Health intervention programme that focuses on improving maternal, new born and child health, prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV.
Others were improving immunisation coverage, scaling up access to essential medicines, malaria control, and child nutrition.
