By Tom Okpe
The House of Representatives Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has queried the Ministry of Health over disengagement of a local contractor in a $100 million loan agreement between Nigeria and the Islamic Development Bank, IDB, meant to address the challenge of Malaria in the country.
Chairman of the Committee, Rep Amobi Ogah at a stakeholders meeting to address the matter on Thursday, at the Public Hearing, was displeased that succour was expected, though, intervention was yet to materialise, even after signing the agreement in 2022.
Amobi however, directed that Minister of Health, Prof Ali Muhammad Pate, present at the meeting, was askes to provide a comprehensive report of the transactions, in respect of the agreement to the Committee within two weeks.
The report is expected to explain in details, why the local vendors approved for the agreement were disqualified and not given access to the job.
Amobi said the meeting was to resolve logjam that seemed to have crippled implementation of the Islamic Bank Loan, to support Malaria elimination in Nigeria under the Lives, and Livelihood Project.
He said the project aims to reduce under-five mortality in Nigeria from 132 to 79 per 1,000 births by 2030.
“We are aware that Malaria continues to exert a huge burden on majority of Nigerians, with the greatest toll, affecting children under 5 and pregnant women.
“Nigeria contributes 27% of the global Malaria cases, World Malaria Report, 2021, and 31% of global Malaria deaths.
“In view of this sad story every effort must be made to support any initiative that attempts to reduce or eliminate Malaria burden in Nigeria.
“However we are at a loss as to the reason, why the Loan agreement between Nigeria and the Islamic Bank, which is expected to last for 3 years, is terminating by end of this year, has suffered monumental setback and we, as Parliament, representing the people of Nigeria, who are affected and ravaged daily by Malaria epidemic, cannot fold our hands and watch matters degenerate so badly.
“The Committee on ATM under my leadership has set a clear vision that, it will no longer be business as usual, that Nigeria and Nigerians should be the focus of Government policies and programs.
“It is said that when two elephants fight, the grass and trees suffers, in this case, we know the grass; the grass is Nigerians, ravaged and battered by Malaria and the opportunity to receive succour through the intervention of the Islamic Bank loan is yet to materialise after, signing of agreement in 2022.
“We however, don’t know whether the Elephants fighting here is the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare? Or is it the Local Manufacturers of Insecticidal Nets? Or is it UNOPS,” he queries.
“While the Committee is eager to hear from all parties involved in this saga, we will make it categorically clear that as a Parliament, we will not tolerate any entity that will toy with lives of our people, we must think locally and grow our local capacity to ensure that, Malaria is eradicated from our Country,” he stated.
The Health Minister, Pate, in his response noted that the agreement was reversed because there were issues with the local producer.
He stressed that, “according to design of the loan, there was an agreement by the Government to utilise a United Nations procurement agent, UNOPS, and a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed.
“The provisions for all commodities, drugs test kits would be channelled through UNOPS in particular, those that are going to be produced here should be bought here.
“For bed nets in specific terms, the original MoU was for the bed nets to be procured using national competitive bidding on the assumption that they were three local producers who are prequalified.
“Of the three, only one was prequalified and that is the company in the country that was to be involved. The tender process started in early 2023. The process ran into procedural difficulty and, suspended by UNOPS in an open and transparent manner, and investigated, the Minister said.
He acknowledged that the country still has a Malaria challenge and the Islamic Development Loan is a major effort that started four years ago, as part of Nigeria’s effort to achieve Malaria elimination.
“It is a $100 million loan that was meant for five States, Bayelsa, Edo, Enugu, Kogi and FCT. The Federal Government signed and negotiated the loan and also, at State level, legal agreements with those five entities were constructed by the IDB.”
The Director, and representative of UNOPS, Ghana Multi Country Office, Ifeoma Charles-Monwuba in her presentation, said there was an anomaly with the local contractor, who lacked capacity, hence, the need to terminate their agreement.
She said, “The agreement with UNOPS was signed in September 2022, however there was a clause inserted that meant, if it did not become effective until December 2022.
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“By January 2023, we did a training for local vendors that were supposed to participate, we did a training for them and by February 2023, the tender was launched.”
Earlier, the House Speaker, Rep Tajudeen Abbas, represented by the House Leader, Prof Julius Ihonvbare, hoped the matter would be resolved amicably.
He said: “With the calibre of members of the Committee, I have no doubt that whatever is causing the challenge would be resolved.
“We have a commitment to protect the local market and producers and encourage local production to prevent capital flight and encourage the development of skills and capacity to do better.
“We are shocked the matter has lasted this long. Many of us come from rural constituencies with poor access to medical services and we know how our people are suffering, so for an Mou to be signed and, taken over four years is an embarrassment.”
