Reps Query NHIS Over  N152m Expenses On Sanitizers  

Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance  have queried the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Muhammad Nadir Sambo on the finances and expenditures of the agency, discovering that it spent over N152 million to procure hand sanitizers, facemasks, as well hand gloves in 2020.

The lawmakers noted that apart from the sum of N152,487,900 on the items, the agency sought to mislead them by not including important details of its revenue generating activities.

The scheme also spent  at least N2,480,000 to buy diesel on monthly basis for its head office in Utako, Abuja and office annex in Wuse, Abuja.

In March, 2020, the agency spent the sum of N49,200.000.00 on what it called

vital contributors program for hosting support of the online websites and functionalities.

These  were revealed  at a  hearing of the House Committee on Finance which summoned some Ministries, Department and Agencies, MDAs to interface with them on remittances into the government coffers.

According to the deputy chsirman of the committee, Hon. Saidu Musa Abdullahi (APC, Niger), the hearing was essentially a step up to this year’s revenue monitoring exercise to shore up the national income in line with the constitutional mandate and standing orders of the House.

Details of the expenditures contained in a document submitted to the Committee showed that on April 17, 2020, the Scheme was supplied with N5000 pieces of disposable face mask rated at N2,423,750.00

On April 17, 2020, there was also a supply of 500 bottles of hand sanitizer (500ml) for N2,423,750.00.On May 20, 2020, the Scheme also took delivery of 500 packs of N95 face masks and 500 packs of disposable face and nose masks at N37,186,825.

On May 2020, there was a supply of 1000 sets of disposables coverall protective suit and 1000 disposable latex hand gloves at the cost of N37,186,825.

Similarly, on May 20, 20020, there was a supply of 250 pieces of decontamination spray pump at N9,075,000.On June 26, 2020, the Scheme got supply of hand sanitizer with customized logo on label for N47, 970,000.

On June 26, 2020, it took another delivery of disposable face/nose masks for N30,724,200

On June 26, 2020, there was another supply of disposable face/nose masks for N15,951,000.

On the procurement of diesel, the document also revealed that on March 3, 2020, there was a supply of 8,000 litres of diesel to head office at N2,480,000.00

Members of the Committee which included Hons: Ossai Nicholas Ossai and Soho had raised questions on the expenditures, requesting a response from the NHIS Executive Secretary, Professor Mohammed Sambo who had appeared before the Committee with his team.

 Sambo,in his reply  said the agency also provided more items under its corporate social responsibility for some social workers on the front line during COVID-19 pandemic

He said: “On the huge expenditure to tune tunes of millions with respect to the COVID-19 items, we are National Health Insurance Scheme, we are supposed to be a strategic purchasing agency by mandate. During COVID-19, there was a plan of the Ministry of Health on sectoral response to Covid-19 and because we are dealing with healthcare facilities, we all know that at the beginning of COVID-19, most of the healthcare workers abandoned their duty posts because they didn’t have items for their protection. As part our corporate social responsibility, we identified first line organizations like police and so on.

“We gave them those items and we also recognized hospitals that have huge enrollment of NHIS enrollees and we supplied them with these items.

“All the documents are available if the lawmakers needs them. So this expenditure is not restrictive to NHIS. We have been directed to ensure the protection of our people.

“On electricity, we all know last year, there has been a lot of erratic supply of electricity. We have a big office in Utako and in Wuse. In our office in Wuse, we had to maintain a cooling system. We have huge infrastructure that requires cooling. As we are improving our infrastructure now, we are talking about the level of electricity that are being consumed in future. All the expenditure in respect to COVID, some of the MDAs wrote to PTF that they need these items , they wrote to us.

“In respect to the toners, NHIS has a total of 38 state offices, 9 zonal offices as well as two offices at Abuja. So, when we are buying these items, we are not buying them as one toner per purchase. We buy them within the threshold to furnish the state and zonal offices, that’s why you see that the consumption rate is high”, he said.

On the accreditation and registration of Health Management Organizations, HMOs, Sambo said that N47.35 million was generated in 2019; N45.5 million in 2020 and N11.49 million so far in 2021.