…order agency to account for unspent N3m 

By Levinus Nwabughiogu-Abuja

House of Representatives, Wednesday, interrogated the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Mohammed Sambo asking him ro account for the N3 million not utilised in the N144 million budgetary allocation to agency in 2020.

Chairman, House committee on Health services, Hon. Tanko Sonunu gave the directive on Wednesday during a budget defence session with NHIS in Abuja.

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The Committee said that while scrutinizing the books, it discovered N3 million was unspent in the 2020 budget .

Responding, the Executive Secretary, disclosed that out of the N144 million that was released for 2020 budget, over N140 million were utilised.

He said that N3 million was rolled over to the 2021 budget.

He also disclosed over N400 million has been utilised from over N740 million appropriated to the agency in 2021 budget.

Speaking to Journalists shortly the budget defence session, Sambo hinted that NHIS has introduced a new package known as “Giftship” to enable more Nigerians to have access to affordable healthcare.

“Giftship is a platform that can bring in individuals, families, people from various groups, people from diaspora. It can facilitate philanthropists to come and get premium on behalf of people in their communities.

“So this is a platform. We call it a master stroke that will bring about the total coverage of the Nigerian population. If you’re a philanthropist, you can pay like N15 million and cover over one thousand people. If you pay N30 million, you can cover two thousand people”, he said.