The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said on Monday that the National Assembly would provide resources in the 2022 budget for the battle against COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that the federal parliament would ensure that the funds were prudently utilised by relevant government agencies.
Lawan spoke in Abuja while declaring open a national summit on COVID-19 with the theme, ‘End the Pandemic and Build Back Better,’ organised by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19.
The Senate President said, “In the 2022 appropriation, whatever is necessary will be provided for Nigeria to continue to fight the pandemic and beyond it.
“There is a caveat, that those who will be given the funds need to provide the kind of prudence that is necessary – the economy, the efficiency in the deployment and application of those resources.
“I will urge our committees who have been working very hard and very closely with the PSC to ensure very strict and rigorous scrutiny and oversight of our funds in 2022 when we are able to provide them to the Federal Ministry of Health and its agencies.”
The Senate President also urged the relevant health authorities to do more to ensure that the vaccine hesitancy is minimised or eliminated.
He commended the PSC for the great work it had done in effectively coordinating and mounting a formidable national response to this emergent global public health threat.
