…Considers bill to address exodus of doctors, nurses
The Senate, on Thursday, moved to block revenue leakages from medical tourism with the consideration of a bill that would see to reduced number of Nigerians traveling to other countries for medical care.
The Senate, on Thursday, also confirmed the nomination of Barr. Victor Chinemerem Muruako as Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission.
The confirmation of the nominee followed consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Finance, Chaired by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Lagos-West).
Immediately after presentation of the report by the Chairman of Committee, the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, objected to the confirmation of the nominee on the basis that full nominations to the Commission was yet to be forwarded to the Upper Chamber by President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that the Chairman cannot be confirmed alone without the compliment of full membership of the Commission.
He, therefore, moved a motion for the confirmation to be stepped down pending when the President constitutes the Commission’s Board and sends the nominations to the upper chamber for screening and confirmation.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his response, however, prevailed on his colleagues for the Senate to confirm the nominee pending when the full list of nominees was sent to the Senate by the President.
“If we don’t confirm, this person would still be acting, so it makes little or no difference really.
“I suggest we do the confirmation and insist that the Chairman does not constitute the board of the Commission, because the Commission is supposed to have the full compliment of what the law says.
“So, we do the confirmation and write to the Executive to nominate the remaining people to form the Commission.
“But let me also remark here, that the man has acted for over seven years, and yet this commission, I personally don’t know what they are doing. What are they doing?
“So, the Chairman, when he is confirmed, has a huge responsibility to turn around this Commission for it to perform efficiently and effectively.
“Otherwise, for him to be there seven years acting, and then fours years – that is eleven years – running that Commission, probably he did it as a Sole Administrator over the years, and is simply not acceptable because the Fiscal Responsibility Commission is such an important Commission that we need to have everybody who is supposed to be there, and they have to sit up, especially the man who would lead this,” Lawan said.
Meanwhile, the bill titled: Federal Medical Centres (Establishment) Bill, 2021, was sponsored by Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (APC, Adamawa Central).
Leading debate on the bill, Senator Ahmed said the absence of a legal framework for the regulation, development and management of Federal Medical Centers to set standards for rendering health services was responsible for hindering the provision of intensive, effective and efficient health care services to the people of Nigeria.
According to the lawmaker, “this has led to a number of challenges in the health sector including but not limited to under-funding, weak facilities and infrastructure, poor motivation of health workers, low budget, weak accountability, conflicts with the political structure of the states and industrial strikes which has led to inadequacies, shortcomings and weaknesses which hinder effective health care delivery services.”
She noted that the passage of the bill will “reduce the number of Nigerians who have to go to other countries for medical care.”
The lawmaker lamented that, “an average of 20,000 Nigerians travel to India each year for medical assistance due to the absence of a solid healthcare system at home.”
Senator Ahmed further noted that the piece of legislation would also sufficiently address remuneration of the employees of the Medical Centers which in turn would check the exodus of doctors and nurses to other countries.
“Seventy-seven percent of black doctors in the US are Nigerians and there is rarely any top medical institution in the US or Europe where you don’t find Nigerians managing at the top level.
“Hardly a year passes without a major national strike by nurses, doctors, or health consultants. The major reasons for these strikes are poor salaries and lack of government investment in the health sector,” she said.
Citing a report of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, Ahmed stressed that the bill would “improve on the persistent rate of avoidable deaths of all Nigerians.”
“A recent UNICEF report has it that “preventable or treatable diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, measles and HIV/AIDS account for more than 70 percent of the estimated one million under-five deaths in Nigeria,” she said.
She added that with the right data, Nigeria would witness improvements to the health information system, regular and sustainable population and health-facility-based surveys; as well as have a centralized management of the many challenges of the 23 Federal Medical Centers in the country.
Contributing to the debate, Senator Yahaya Oloriegbe (APC, Kwara Central) said Federal Medical Centres were incapacitated as a result of the absence of legal backing establishing them and insufficient funding.
“We have about twenty-three Federal Medical Centres that were established across the country, but without legal backing.
“The consequence of such is that there are, what I will call policy somersault as regards the operations of these centres.
“You see some of the centres that have enough facilities and manpower to even be termed a Teaching Hospital, but because the legal framework did not state the standard, in terms of infrastructures, manpower and services, they remain like that, and it becomes at the whims and caprices of the policy makers in the Federal Ministry of Health.
“The consequences in terms of funding allocation, Federal Medical Centres receive less fund compared to Teaching Hospitals, the lawmaker said.
On his part, Senator Ibn Na’Allah said the bill was timely as it seeks “to ensure that all institutions of government are governed by law.”
“We cannot continue to operate a democracy where public funds are disbursed to institutions that are not recognize by law. That is not right,” Na’Allah added.
The bill after scaling Second Reading was referred by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to the Committee on Health for further legislative work.
The Committee which is Chaired by Senator Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe is expected to report back in four weeks.
The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central), on his part, observed that going ahead with the confirmation of the nominee without the compliment of full membership of the Board was not the intent of President Buhari.
On Muruako, Omo-Agege suggested that the nominee’s confirmation be put on hold.
“I don’t believe it is the intent of Mr. President to nominate a sole administrator. Clearly, that cannot be his intention.
“The Commission is entitled to the full compliment of members, and my view without prejudice to the ruling you just gave and the man’s qualifications, would have been for this to be put on hold while we await Mr. President to bring the other members,” the Deputy Senate President said.
According to him, “going ahead to do this (confirm nominee) right now, is validating the sole administrator-ship that he has enjoyed for the past seven years, and it is wrong, Mr. President.”
Lending his voice in support of the nominee’s confirmation, Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South), said, “li
stening to both sides of the arguments, the man has been there in acting capacity for seven years.
“Now, only his name has been submitted to us to sc
reen and clear without his members. It is an ugly story. However, I would suggest not stepping down, we clear the man, but you have the responsibility to convey – not in writing – but talking to Mr. President that this is the situation. Somebody, somewhere is clearly playing a game which is not correct, that is why we are here.”
Senator Ibn Na’Allah, on his part, cautioned the lawmakers not to act against the provisions of the law by refusing to confirm the nominee, as the Fiscal Responsibility Act does not make it mandatory for the President to submit the complete names of nominees for appointment to the Board at once.
“Mr. President, I always wants us to err on the side of law. The ruling and the running of Senate is not left to our whims and caprices. We are guided by law and the Constitution.
“I have had the privilege of reading the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Bill. When we made that law, there was no where we specifically said that the appointment must be done at once.
“All we said is that the Commission should have the Chairman, and then members from the six groups-political zones to constitute the body. That is the position of the law.
“And, I remind each and everyone of us here, that the rules of engagement between us and those who elected us into this office is the oath that we took on that very day, that we would uphold, defend and protect the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law.
“So, if the Fiscal Responsibility Bill does not say that the President must make this appointment at once, I’m unable to find the wisdom of not confirming the name submitted to the Senate if he has meet the legal requirement to be confirmed as the Chairman.
“Again, don’t forget that we are running a democracy, the principle of which is guided by the separation of on powers. We cannot do our work and do that of Mr. President,” Na’Allah advised.
The nominee was, thereafter, confirmed by Upper Chamber as Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission.