Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NHPCDA), denied asking for a $200 million loan for the importation and local production of mosquito nets in the country on Wednesday.
He made this statement in response to reports that he advocated for a $200 million loan to fund the importation and local production of mosquito nets in the country.
According to a statement signed and made accessible to newsmen in Abuja by the Head, Public Relations Unit, Mohammad Ohitoto, “this assertion is not only false, but also a fiction of the writer’s imagination, as the CEO has never talked or provided an interview about the malaria program.”
He said, “It is pertinent to state that the Malaria programme is the responsibility of the National Malaria Elimination Programme (FMOH). Therefore, the NPHCDA Chief Executive has no reason whatsoever to discuss or advocate for funding for such intervention. This news is outrightly unfounded and fake and should be disregarded by all well-meaning Nigerians”, he said.
Recalled that, the Senate on Tuesday voted to reject the Federal Ministry of Health’s intention to borrow $200 million to buy mosquito nets for the ’13 Orphaned States’ (vulnerable states).
Sen. Yahaya Ibrahim Oloriegbe of the Senate Committee on Health poked holes in the request, claiming that Nigeria already had a loan from the Global Fund for Malaria for the same purpose.
The Committee also informed Mahmuda Mamman, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry, who submitted the submission in support of the Ministry’s budget forecasts for 2022, that the health sector had received enhanced financial allocation from the executive in the previous two years.
The National Assembly’s Upper Chamber also approved special financial provisions for the health sector to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak, according to the report, insisting on “a precise picture of the ministry’s complete demand so that we know what the $200 million loan from the World Bank is for.”
Sen. Oloriegbe, the Committee’s Chairman, chastised the Ministry’s envoy for failing to offer appropriate proof to justify the loan request, claiming that it was a plot to provide “money and jobs for the lads” by someone in Washington, DC.
In its defense, the Ministry stated that the loan would be distributed among 13 ‘Orphaned States’ (vulnerable) that lack Malaria funding.
According to the Permanent Secretary, the transfer of the $200 million credit facility expected from the World Bank will also provide funds for Malaria treatment in 208 local government areas and 3,536 health facilities that do not have access to malaria treatment facilities.
The loan will also be used to procure nets / medicines for beneficiaries and medicines to drive required treatment, according to Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, NPHCDA. It will also be injected to encourage local mosquito net manufacturing and distribution through mass campaigns.
The NPHCDA’s explanation, on the other hand, did not sit well with parliamentarians, who demanded an additional paper to clarify the thorny subject.
