Nigeria: ICPC Cautions Hospitals, Finance Directors Against Budget-Padding

• “Once you breach the rules, sanctions must follow,” the ICPC boss told the directors.

Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN, has condemned the padding of budget by government officials, warning that the Commission won’t tolerate breach of government financial rules and regulations.

Prof. Owasanoye gave this warning during a meeting with the Forum of Directors of Finance of federal hospitals convened by the Budget Office of the Federation to review a position paper presented by the Forum on the challenges of implementation of the 2021 budget recently in Abuja.

He pointed out that it was an aberration for Federal Medical Centres to have more staff than teaching hospitals and criticised the fraudulent practices associated with outsourcing of services which was prevalent in the hospitals.

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Owasanoye advised the management of the hospitals to carry out a proper evaluation of the actual number of personnel needed and for which services so as not to go beyond the number of non-regular staff required.

He noted that a review of the health sector undertaken by the Commission revealed that funds meant for specific projects in hospitals had been diverted to other unimportant areas.

On internally generated revenue, Owasanoye told the finance directors that agencies which receive allocations from government were expected to pay 100 per cent of their IGRs into the government treasury to avoid abuse.