By CHIOMA OBINNA

Over 60 concerned Civil Society Organisations (CSO) under the auspices of CSO Health Watch have raised alarm over the possibility of Nigeria losing future aid grants from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFTAM), following alleged misappropriation of N74 billion ($ 474.5 million) in grants by Nigeria’s Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM), which overseas and manages the grant.

Spokesperson of the groups, who is also a member of Communities Delegation to the Global Fund Board, Mr. Ifeanyi Kelly Orazulike, noted in a statement that President Goodluck Jonathan should, in the spirit of transparency and accountability, act on time and decisively to ensure that we do not face the consequences of inaction which is a situation whereby the grants are cancelled and innocent Nigerians living with AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria suffer by loss of access to the grant and its benefits.

Orazulike alleged that the agreed interventions and activities stated in grant proposals are not fully implemented and some recipients and partners exaggerate their interventions in programme sites.

Noting a glaring case of conflict of interest in the Nigeria CCM, he observed that “of the 24 Nigerians on the CCM, 12 are also grant recipient which implies that a group of people writes the proposal, selects itself as grant recipients, implement activities and overseas its own performance.”

Confriming that Nigeria is to refund the sum, Executive Director of Positive Action forTreatment Access (PATA),Ms. Rolake Odetoyinbo said to ensure transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s programme implementation, all grant recipients should step down as voting CCM members and take on observer status.