Tell us how ₦30bn was spent on COVID-19 in 4 months — CSOs to FG
Two civil society organisations, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), and Connected Development (CODE), have asked the Federal Government to give the details of how it spent ₦30.5bn in four months to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, DAILY TIMES gathered.
The group requested to know the specific items the funds were spent on and the beneficiaries.
The Deputy Director, SERAP, Kolawole Oludare, said in a statement on Sunday 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 (FoI) request jointly made by SERAP and CODE.
READ ALSO: COVID-19 response cost ₦30bn in 4 months, FG says
According to Oludare, the accountant-general, in an undated letter, told SERAP and CODE that the Federal Government spent ₦30,540,563,571.09 between April and July to fight the pandemic.
The amount claimed to be spent by the federal government is only 84 per cent of the ₦36.3bn public COVID-19 funds and donations received by the Federal Government during that period.
A balance of ₦5.9bn is still missing.
SERAP said the accountant-general’s letter indicated that “the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 spent ₦22bn; while the 36 states spent ₦7bn on COVID-19.”
It added that the Nigerian Air Force spent ₦877m on the deployment of assets in support of COVID-19 operations; the police spent ₦500m on personal protective equipment; while ₦17,865.09 was paid as bank charges.
