The Permanent Secretary of the State House, Tijani Umar, has said the N1.3bn budgeted for the State House Clinic is too small.

At a budget defence session on Thursday, November 5, State House Permanent Secretary, Tijani Umar presented a budget of N19.7 billion for 2021, out of which N1.3 billion was proposed for the Villa Clinic.

Reacting to the proposal, the Chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Danjuma Lah, said the committee would approve the budget for the State House Clinic but insisted that the President and other top officials of his government should no longer be flown abroad for medical treatment.

Later in the day, during an interview with journalists, Umar, who promised to put necessary arrangements in place to meet the medical needs of the President and other top officials once the budget was approved, said, “The N1.3bn is absolutely inadequate when you juxtapose the amount proposed, the labour, and the status of the principals that the project is going to serve.”

He compared the amount proposed in the budget for the Villa Clinic with “worldwide standards” and said the Villa Clinic budget is inadequate.