Senate Orders State House Officials To Stop Buhari From Taking Medical Trips Abroad

The Senate on Thursday told State House officials to restrain the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), from foreign trips for medical treatment in order to ensure the State House clinic becomes functional this year.

The warning was issued to the State House Permanent Secretary, Tijani Umar, who appeared before the panel to defend his 2021 budget estimates. Umar had presented a N19.7 billion budget out of which N1.2 billion was allocated for the state house clinic.

Panel member, Senator Danjuma La’ah, revealed that the budget would be approved but that the President and other top officials of his government should no longer be flown abroad for medical treatment.

In an interview with journalists after defending his budget, the Permanent Secretary promised to put necessary arrangements in place to meet the medical needs of the President and other top officials once the budget was approved.

He said, “We have appealed to the committee to assist us with the presidential wing of the State House Clinic.
“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 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.
“It is not correct to say the state house clinic is in comatose. It is not.
“We have realigned some many things and one of the fundamental challenges we have dealt with is the sustainable supply of drugs and consumables.”