Following the refusal of the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, to recall the suspended executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, Usman Yusuf, the House of Representatives may not pass the 2018 budget of the agency.
This is part of the recommendations contained in the report of the House Committee on Health Services, which investigated allegations of corruption and mismanagement of funds at NHIS.
New Telegraph reports that a source privy to the report of the committee, which will be submitted when the House resumes from its annual recess in September, said the panel wants the NHIS budget proposal delayed until the ministry complies with the resolution of the lower house.
According to source, the committee has recommended that the House, for the last time, gave the minister another seven-day ultimatum to recall the executive secretary pending its consideration of the report of its panel, which failure to comply with should be met with a rejection of NHIS budget for 2018.
“The committee has recommended that the House give the minister benefit of the doubt by issuing another seven-day ultimatum for him to recall the suspended executive secretary pending the conclusion of its investigation into the rot in the scheme.
“It has recommended that should the minister refuse to comply, the budget proposal of NHIS be rejected by the House until the executive listens to the parliament,” the lawmaker said.
The source also hinted that the committee’s report has indicted most of the health maintenance organisations (HMOs) handling the health scheme and recommended that the anti-corruption agencies re-investigate and prosecute them appropriately.
“Considering the large scale fraud that the committee has uncovered, it has recommended that the HMOs be investigated again and prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC),” the source disclosed.
The source, who is a member of the health services committee chaired by Hon. Chike Okafor (APC, Imo), however, declined to give further details, since the report has not been formally submitted to the House.
It will be recalled that the House had directed the minister to reinstate the executive secretary within seven days and to halt the re-accreditation of HMOs pending the outcome of the investigation by the House.
Mr Yusuf was suspended on July 8 by the minister on allegations of financial impropriety.
