Details of a document released to Connected Development and reviewed by Dataphyte has shown that the Nigerian Government spent over N47 billion ( about $114.6 million) for equipping hospitals with COVID-19 equipment and facilities.
Intensive Care Units, isolation centres, molecular laboratory equipment and personal protection equipment are some of the items on the list of purchases.
These monies were spent on a total of 52 hospitals across the country.
The figure and the items said to have been purchased do not fit the realities of Covid19 care and management in the country. In June 2020, Nigerian doctors in state-run hospitals were reported to have left work in protest over the lack of Personal Protection Equipment which doctors say puts their lives at risk. N3.144 billion was spent on PPEs in 21 different hospitals federal and teaching hospitals in the country, state-run hospitals did not benefit from this bounty.
In August 2021, one of the leaders of the Association of Resident Doctors, Dr Akanimo Obong, was quoted as raising concerns about the availability of isolation centres in the country.
A sum of N5.2 billion was recorded as spent for 52 isolation treatment centres in select hospitals across all states and the federal capital territory. Yet, a clip obtained by Dataphyte shows rickety beds in a poorly fitted isolation centre in a hospital that received a total sum of N950 million .
Another sum of N18.388 billion was released for equipping ten-bed intensive care units for the fifty-two hospitals.
31 hospitals received funds twice for this purpose receiving an initial N353.634 million each and then N149.750 million each. This totals at N503.384 million each for these thirty-one hospitals to build intensive care units for covid-19.
One of the hospitals that benefited from the funding is the University of Nigeria teaching hospital, Enugu, where it was reported that there was a shortage of Oxygen as at January 2021. This was blamed on an Oxygen plant in the hospital that malfunctioned and was not repaired. Oxygen is identified as a core need for intensive care treatment facilities for COVID-19.
Another beneficiary of the funding, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, was accused of refusing to test suspected patients in April 2021, and instead redirected patients to private testing centres.
LUTH received a total of N950 million, from which N345.848 million was earmarked for molecular testing equipment.
A total of N17.98 billion was quoted as spent for molecular testing equipment in the fifty-two beneficiary hospitals in the country.
Spendings Shrouded in Opacity, with no Public Accountability
Before the release of the details of spending on hospitals to Connected Development, the spending on these hospitals and utilization of COVID-19 spendings had been shrouded in secrecy.
A group had earlier demanded that the government explain how it spent the sum of $8.9 billion donated to it by International Organizations, corporate organizations and individuals for management of the pandemic.
The Socio-economic Rights Accountability project had earlier sued the Ministry of Health and the National Centre for Disease Control over the inability to account for COVID-19 spending.
A Dataphyte report had revealed how COVID-19 emergency procurements worth N534 million were awarded to unverified contractors.
Issues such as lack of transparency in the public sector procurement, contracting and activities as a whole have remained despite instruments like the Public Procurement Act.
The 2019 audit report spotlighted Ministries, Departments and Agencies as resisting public transparency and accountability, with violations ranging from shady procurement and contracting practices to outright failures to abide by laws.
Corruption has also defied the President’s vociferous claims of fighting corruption.
Nigeria’s decline in the 2021 Corruption Perception Index merely underlines an obvious reality. The latest ranking puts Nigeria on 154 out of 180 countries, its worst rank in seven years.
What Lack of Transparency in Public Spending means for Nigeria- Experts
The Chief Executive Officer of the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), Nkem Ilo reiterated the need to enshrine transparency in the country.
She stated that transparency will help to build trust in public institutions while ensuring a collaborative mechanism across multiple stakeholders to the complex problems besetting Nigeria.
A social accountability advocate, Busayo Morakinyo also told Dataphyte that there is a need for the government to enshrine openness in their governance. He noted that secrecy in spending and the absence of accountability will only strengthen distrust in government, leaving a herculean task when the government introduces any new policy going forward.
Citing an instance of hoarding of COVID-19 palliatives, Busayo expressed concerns that a continuous lack of transparency will hurt the system.
He urged the government to prioritise Open Contracting and ensure that the tenets of accountability are promoted in the country especially for fiscal dealing and open governance.