Delta State House of Assembly Committee on Health has charged the State Ministry of Health, Departments, Agencies and Parastatals in the health sector of the state to shun all forms of misappropriation of budgetary provisions.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon Ferguson Onwo gave the charge on Thursday at the end of a two day rigorous budget defense session for the Ministry of Health, departments, agencies and parastatals under the oversight of the House Committee on Health.
Hon Onwo who represents Isoko South 2 Constituency in the House, stressed that the purpose of budget defense was to ascertain the level of performance in the outgoing year and successes recorded so as to forecast into the next fiscal year.
Onwo, alongside other members of the Committee, maintained that while the state government, through the appropriation law allocated resources to MDAs, it amounted to a breach of the law when expenditures were made outside the budgetary allocations.
“Let me make it clear, Section 128 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as altered, provides that no money of the state government shall be a waste which further talks about misappropriation of funds.
“Our duty as lawmakers is to ensure that money is appropriated to execute projects and programmes of the state government and to ensure that every money appropriated to MDAs are not just put to use, but put to good use for the benefit of Deltans.

“We as a committee will continue to play our role in supporting the programmes of the state government in the area of health particularly the health insurance scheme”, Onwo said
The Health Committee Chairman commended the State Ministry of Health and others operating within the health sector for their performances in the outgoing fiscal year.
Hon Onwo,, however, urged them to do more as the Governor Sheriff Oborevwori administration was committed to delivering on its electioneering campaign promises as encapsulated in the MORE agenda.
“I encourage you to leverage on the MORE agenda vision of the State Governor, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori and articulate policies and programmes that will holistically address the health needs of Deltans.
“This charge is imperative as the health needs of Deltans must be top of the priority of the State Government”, Onwo stated.
Meanwhile, the state government has proposed 30 Billion naira for capital projects in the Ministry of Health in the 2025 fiscal year.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Joseph Onojaeme who disclosed this at the budget defense session with the Hon Ferguson Onwo – led Committee on Health, hinted that the state government was poised to prioritize capital projects and programmes in 2025 aimed at enhancing healthcare delivery in the state.

According to him, the state government was irrevocably committed to ensuring that Delta maintained its positions as one of the states in the country with high profile healthcare delivery indices.
On revenue projection, the Commissioner disclosed that the sum of N2.7 billion had been projected as proposed revenue from the Ministry in the 2025 fiscal year.
Dr Onojaeme stated that the projected revenue would be achieved through enhanced revenue drive as well as approval of the validation of plough back to the Ministry.
The Health Commissioner disclosed that the state government was already putting measures in place to check the adverse effect of dearth of health personnel in the state occasioned by the contemporary ‘Japa’ syndrome through regular employment of health officials.
For his part, the Director General of the Delta State Contributory Health Commission, Dr Isaac Akpoveta, said the Commission would continue to sustain its programmes in the coming year 2025.
He said the Commission was working round the clock in line with the MORE agenda of the state government to ensure quality and accessible health care to all Deltans both the rich and poor through the health insurance scheme.
The Hospitals Management Board, HMB and health institutions under its supervision, the Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara and some other health related agencies in the state, also appeared before the Assembly Committee on Health for the 2025 budget scrutiny.
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