NHIS: Reps Threaten To Arrest Health Minister
The House of Representatives on Thursday threatened to order for the arrest of the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, over the suspension of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf.
The lawmakers also disclosed that it would no longer consider the budget of the NHIS henceforth. The Chairman of the House Committee on Health Services, Chike Okafor, said the resolution to order for the arrest of the minister was arrived after a closed door meeting with members of the committee.
“The House resolution was communicated to the Health Minister and if you look through our proceedings, you will see that we were expecting the minister to come tomorrow (Thursday) to give us an update on the crisis rocking the NHIS.
“But incidentally, I got a letter from him about an hour ago, saying he will not be available to appear before this committee. He gave a couple of reasons, which I would still relate to the committee when we dissolve into an executive session.
“Suffice it to say that the reasons are not acceptable to me. I was going to direct that we send a letter back to him as he claimed in his letter that he has engagements that will take him out of Abuja or that he is already out of Abuja,” Okafor said.
