Reps Probe $4.6b Health Grants Utilization Between 2021-2025

The House of Representatives has launched an investigation into the management of $4.6 billion in health grants received from the Global Fund and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) between 2021 and 2025.

The House Committee on Infectious Diseases opened the inquiry in Abuja to determine how the grants meant to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria were used.

Committee Chairman Amobi Ogah said the probe was necessary to ensure accountability and transparency in managing donor funds.

“While huge resources are being mobilized against these diseases, there is no reprieve in sight as Nigerians continue to suffer daily,” “Any grant given to us must be managed on our terms. If not, they can keep their grants.”

Ogah said Nigeria would no longer accept being a “spectator” in the management of donor-funded projects and directed the Ministry of Health and the Country Coordinating Mechanism to submit all implementation plans to the National Assembly for approval before releasing funds.

He also revealed plans to amend the law establishing the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, to transform it into a broader body, to be renamed the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (NACATAM).

He revealed that the committee would work closely with the EFCC and ICPC to ensure that principal recipients and implementing partners of all grants account to Nigerians.

“This is even more critical when you consider that some funding for terrorist activities has been traced to grants and donor funds,” Ogah added.

He urged implementing partners to prepare for robust parliamentary oversight, noting that some lacked proper or verifiable office addresses. The committee, he said, would hold the Ministry of Health and the Country Coordinating Mechanism responsible for ensuring accountability from all entities receiving donor grants.

Ogah emphasised that the exercise was not a witch-hunt but a democratic measure to ensure transparency and value for public health spending.

“This exercise is an essential ingredient of democracy and should not be seen as a vendetta or warfare,” he said. “We are very clear in our vision to ensure that no Nigerian child dies before age five from HIV, Tuberculosis, or Malaria. We want to ensure that the advocacy and commitment that will lead to the elimination of infectious diseases in our country by 2030 are championed and owned by all relevant stakeholders

Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, called for a gradual end to Nigeria’s dependence on foreign aid in funding its response to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Pate said the country must take greater responsibility for financing its health priorities as donor funding declines after two decades of support.

He described the probe as a welcome step toward transparency, accountability, and domestic ownership of health programmes.

He noted that while donor assistance has saved millions of lives through HIV, TB, and malaria interventions, Nigeria’s health spending remains below 15% of the Abuja Declaration target, warning that underfunding threatens sustainability.

Declaring the session open, Speaker Dr Abbas Tajudeen, represented by Deputy Chief Whip, Ibrahim Isiaka, said the investigation reflects the parliament’s resolve to ensure transparency in health funding.

He said it would produce an evidence-based report on how the grants were received, utilized, and their impact on public health while strengthening accountability and governance in the sector.

Oduyemi Odumade, Edited By Grace Namiji