Senate Moves to Restrict Buhari From Foreign Medical Trips

The Nigerian Senate has moved to restrict President Muhammadu Buhari from undertaking foreign medical trips from 2021.

This is even as the Green House seeks for State House clinics to be put up to standard for functional use before the end of the current year.

The Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs stated while the State House Permanent Secretary, Tijani Umar, appeared before the panel to defend his 2021 budget estimates.

Tijani Umar had presented a budget of N19.7bn for 2021, out of which N1.3bn is proposed for the State House Clinic.

In reacting to the proposal, Chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Danjuma La’ah, stated that the Committee will approve the budget, but emphatically insisted that the President and other top officials should no longer be flown abroad for treatment.

In a brief interview with newsmen after his budget defence, Tijani Umar promised to ensure necessary arrangements are put in place to attend to the medical needs of the President and other top officials when the budget is approved.