The House of Representatives at its plenary session on Tuesday, 13th March 2018 mandated its Committees on Finance, Healthcare Services and Anti-Corruption to investigate the mysterious withdrawal of N10 Billion from the account of the National Health Insurance Scheme and report back within four (4) weeks for further legislative action.
Presenting the motion on the floor of the House, Hon. Chike Okafor (APC:Imo) explained that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was established under the National Health Insurance Scheme Act, Cap. N 42, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 with the objectives of ensuring that every Nigerian has access to good healthcare services and to protect families from financial hardship of medical bills. To carry out its purpose, a Fund made up of a 5% (percent) contribution by each insured person is maintained with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) for the scheme’s administration.
Speaking further, he stated that the withdrawal of monies from such designated accounts under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was at the request of the Chief Accounting Officer of the Agency. However, he noted that a recent oversight inspection of the Agency by the Committee on Healthcare Services revealed that two suspicious withdrawals of N5 Billion each (totaling N10 Billion) were made from the “Insured Persons” Funds account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on 28 December, 2016 and 11 January, 2018 respectively when the Executive Secretary of the Scheme was still under suspension.
Hon. Okafor also called for an investigation into the matter by the House as the Executive Secretary of the NHIS had denied making any request for either of the two withdrawals in question but rather claimed that the withdrawals were authorized by the Honourable Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun without obtaining the consent of the NHIS. In addition, he urged for a probe in the matter, warning that its failure to do so could have an inadvertent effect on public and international confidence in the scheme; making a mockery of the present government’s anti-corruption stance.
