The National Human Rights Commission has \u201ccondemned senior lawyers and
\nothers in public service using human rights to shield corrupt people from
\nprosecution and justice.\u201d
\nProf. Bem Angwe, Executive\u00a0Secretary\u00a0of the Commission said this at the
\nlaunch of a report today at the Westown Hotels, Ikeja, Lagos. The report
\ntitled Health in decline: Human Rights Impacts of Corruption in Nigeria\u2019s
\nHealth Sector was launched by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability
\nProject in collaboration with the Ford Foundation.<\/p>\n
Prof. Angwe who was represented by Mr Wahab Oyedokun said that \u201cThe
\nNational Human Rights Commission believes that corruption is the biggest
\nimpediment to respect for human rights in Nigeria. We recognize that we
\nhave to fight corruption to ensure human rights. There is a problem in the
\nhuman rights community. That problem is that we have pretenders in the
\nhuman rights and legal communities using the platform of human rights to
\nadvance corruption and to shield corrupt elements in our society.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is our responsibility to expose and delegitimise these pretenders and
\nto make sure that our citizens recognize that fight against corruption and
\nimpunity of perpetrators is really the cause to promote human rights.
\nThis is the right course to take as a human rights advocate,\u201d Prof Angwe
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
According to him, \u201cThe constitutional guarantee of presumption of
\ninnocence is a shield and not a sword, and corrupt officials cannot claim
\nnot to be tried because they have human rights, especially given the
\nmassive stealing of our commonwealth. A shield to protect citizens from
\nsponsored state power and doesn\u2019t have to become a sword by which corrupt
\npeople will say because they have human rights they are entitled to steal
\nour commonwealth with impunity and subject our people to suffering.\u201d
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t steal so much and subject people to suffering and claim him
\nhuman rights. This is not the way to go. Human rights are for the
\nadvancement of the greatest majority of the greatest number. So, when we
\nsee our senior citizens at the Bar, or public service trying to
\ndelegitimize the work of SERAP, National Human Rights Commission and other
\nhuman rights bodies we have to make sure that we shout them down,\u201d Prof
\nAngwe also said.
\nOthers who attended the report launch included: \u201cMr M. H Bello for
\nNational Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC);
\nMorayo Adebayo of Amnesty International; Dr Ezeogun Joseph and Dr R.O.
\nAyorinde the representatives of the President Nigerian Medical Association
\nand the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, respectively.
\nSERAP\u2019s report is calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to \u201curgently
\ninstruct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to
\npromptly refer to appropriate anticorruption agencies for prosecution
\nseveral unresolved cases of corruption involving the Ministry of Health,
\nincluding the $29 million Vaccine Grants Scam; N1.9 billion Special
\nIntervention Fund Ebola Fund Scandal; and Nigeria Pharmaceutical Institute
\nGhost Workers and Illegal Recruitment Scam.\u201d
\nThe report is calling for \u201csuspected perpetrators of corruption in the
\nMinistry of Health to be brought to justice and for stolen public funds to
\nbe fully recovered to pursue the developmental agenda of the government
\nand lift the country out of recession.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report also asks Buhari to \u201cencourage anticorruption commissions and
\nagencies to proactively launch and follow through investigations into
\ncredible allegations of corruption in the Ministry of Health including by
\ninvestigating other pervasive allegations of corruption in the health
\nsector in greater depth and promptly and satisfactorily concluding any
\npending investigations on corruption in the spending of budget allocations
\nand international aids to the ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the report, \u201cPresident Buhari should require the Ministry of
\nHealth to make public quarterly budget execution reports, and expenditure
\nreports. It is also important for the government to fully implement the
\nFreedom of Information Act, including by enforcing the judgment of the
\nFederal High Court ordering the government to publish information on the
\nspending of recovered stolen public funds since the return of democracy in
\n1999.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP is also calling on \u201cthe Attorney General of the Federation and
\nMinister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN to refer other pervasive
\nallegations of corruption in the health sector for investigation by the
\nEFCC and the ICPC and instruct appropriate anticorruption commissions and
\nagencies to promptly conclude any pending investigations on corruption in
\nthe spending of budget allocations and international aids to the ministry
\nof health.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Mr Malami should proactively launch and follow through investigations
\ninto credible allegations of corruption in the Ministry of Health. He
\nshould investigate other pervasive allegations of corruption in the health
\nsector in greater depth and promptly and satisfactorily conclude any
\npending investigations on corruption in the spending of budget allocations
\nand international aids to the ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government should also move to recognize the right to health as
\nlegally enforceable human right and ratify the optional protocol to the
\nInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that would
\nallow individual victims access to international accountability mechanism
\nfor effective remedies; and to incorporate the International Covenant on
\nEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights in the domestic legal order to enable
\ncourt adjudicate cases of violations of the right to health.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report also calls for the \u201cComprehensive review and reform of the
\noperation of the NHIS in practice to remove the risks of corruption and to
\nallow it to achieve its intended purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report also \u201ccalls on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to
\nthoroughly and transparently investigate the $29 million Vaccine Grants
\nScam; N1.9 billion Special Intervention Fund Ebola Fund Scandal; and
\nNigeria Pharmaceutical Institute Ghost Workers and Illegal Recruitment
\nScam, prosecute suspected perpetrators of corruption and recover stolen
\npublic funds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP is also calling for foreign governments and donor agencies to
\ninsist on transparency and accountability and prosecution of suspected
\nperpetrators of corruption and recovery of stolen public funds as
\nconditions for providing aids and support to the ministry of health. They
\nshould also insist upon the timely publication and wide dissemination of
\nbudgets, expenditure reports, and audits when providing aid and other
\nforms of cooperation to the ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the report, \u201cPregnant women who are poor are
\ndisproportionately affected during both prenatal and postnatal periods.
\nLarge scale official corruption in the health sector exacerbates
\ninequality in already unequal and unfair political, social, and economic
\nenvironments, and it produces a \u2018cash and carry\u2019 health care system based
\non one\u2019s ability to pay for care.\u201d
\nThe report reads in part: \u201cThe country is bedeviled with proliferation of
\nprivate hospitals without any successful attempt to close down illegal and
\nsubstandard ones. Most of those that were closed down by the government
\nlater re-opened while some resumed operations underground. This
\ncontinuously exposes the Nigerian population to great danger and no
\nconcrete hope of quality healthcare is in sight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNigerians were elated with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS),
\nwhich posed as an initiative to alleviate the burden of user fees (i.e.
\nout-of-pocket payment for health) through the prepayment schemes. The
\ncorrupt practices on-going with the scheme however, has restricted current
\nbeneficiaries to only workers in the private sector and a little fraction
\nof public servants.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe recent allegations of malpractices and fraud against the Nigerian
\nFederal Ministry of Health and the National Primary Health Care
\nDevelopment Agency (NPHCDA) by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and
\nImmunization (GAVI), is one in many of foreign aids that got walloped by
\ncorruption.\u201d
\n\u201cIn October 2014, GAVI audit report of $29 million USD in funding given to
\nNigeria between 2011-2013 found that the Ministry of Health (FMH) and the
\nNational Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) were guilty of
\nextreme procurement malpractices and financial fraud.\u201d
\nAccording to the report, \u201cOnly an approximated 40 per cent of the total
\nexpenditure of N4.5bn (US$29m) in the period 2011-2013 was spent on
\nprocurement with the main categories being; printing N919m (US $5.8m);
\nincinerators N184m (US $1.2m); drugs N243m (US $1.6m); rehabilitation and
\nequipping of medical facilities N437m (US $2.8m); other procurement N90m
\n(US $397k), motor vehicles N17.8 (US 113k).\u201d
\n“The Vaccine Alliance\u2019s allegations forced the Federal Government to agree
\nto repay funds deemed to have been misused, quantified as US$ 2.2 million.
\nEven though the Federal Government agreed to pay, there was no attempt by
\nthe former President Goodluck Jonathan administration to probe or
\ninstitute any committee to investigate the matter and bring to justice
\nsuspected perpetrators, thereby exacerbating impunity for corruption and
\nadding to the bad image of Nigeria at the international level.”
\n\u201cThe main corruption allegations associated with the Ebola fund have been
\ngross diversion of funds for other purposes outside the intended. The
\nEbola fund became the reason behind recent arrest of top officials of the
\nMinistry of Health (FMH). It was reported that the arrest was in relation
\nto a 15-page document obtained by the police, which showed that top
\nofficials of the Ministry of Health (FMH) and National Centre for Disease
\nControl (NCDC) were involved in the mismanagement of the N1.9 billion
\nfunds.”<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso the scandal continued as with the diversion of N63.6 million meant
\nfor pre-departure training of Nigerian volunteers who left the country on
\nDecember 5, 2014, for Liberia and Sierra Leone to assist in the fight
\nagainst Ebola. It was revealed that the said amount withdrawn by the
\nMinistry\u2019s official was actually bankrolled by the African Union
\nCommission in Addis Ababa who paid for all the expenses relating to this
\nactivity. Further allegations arose of a whooping sum of N14.4 million was
\nallegedly spent to organise a meeting for just 15 people!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMillennium Development Goals (MDGs) goals 4 (reducing child mortality), 5
\n(Improving maternal health), and 6 (Combating HIV\/AIDS, malaria and other
\ndiseases) of the MDGs are particular to the health sector. So various
\nfunding towards MDGs 4, 5 and 6 were directly and indirectly channeled
\nthrough the Ministry of Health, its departments and agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe investigation beamed a searchlight on a particular case of fraud
\ninvolving the procurement of benzyl benzoate for the treatment of people
\nliving with HIV\/AIDS. According to the investigation, \u201cthe Ministry
\nclaimed a total cost of N5.4 billion for all procurement of Benzly
\nBenzoate used in treating scabies and other skin ailments. It was however
\nfound that the Ministry quoted an extremely outrageous amount that was
\n59,400 per cent higher than the amount same was sold in the retail market.
\nThe investigation recounted an instance where the Ministry claimed it paid
\nN64.7 million to buy 544 cartons and further revealed that the same amount
\ncould only have cost a maximum N2.6 million.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Human Rights Commission has \u201ccondemned senior lawyers and others in public service using human rights to shield corrupt people from prosecution and justice.\u201d Prof. Bem Angwe, Executive\u00a0Secretary\u00a0of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n