The Federal Government of Nigeria has been asked to give details of how it spent N30.5 billion on the fight against Covid-19 in four months.
The request was made by two civil society organizations – the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), and Connected Development (CODE), according to Punch report.
The groups asked FG to outline the specific items/projects the funds were spent on and the beneficiaries.
In a statement on Sunday, the Deputy Director, SERAP, Kolawole Oludare, said that the demand for details of the spending followed the reply of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, to an earlier Freedom of Information request jointly made by SERAP and CODE.
According to Oludare, the Accountant-General, in an undated letter, told SERAP and CODE that the Federal Government spent N30,540,563,571.09 between April and July to tackle the pandemic.
He said the amount represented 84 percent of the N36.3 billion public COVID-19 funds and donations received by the Federal Government. Idris said there was a balance of N5.9 billion.
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According to Punch, SERAP said the accountant-general’s letter indicated that the money was spent as follows;
“The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 spent N22bn
“The 36 states spent N7bn on COVID-19.
“The Nigerian Air Force spent N877m on the deployment of assets in support of COVID-19 operations
“The police spent N500m on personal protective equipment; while N17,865.09 was paid as bank charges.”
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
