Covid-19: Nigeria’s health minister confesses ignorance, stutters during accountability session in NASS

Health Minister Ehanire Osagie has betrayed his insensitivity to the plight of Nigerian medical professionals in the civil service battling to contain Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

He told the leadership of NASS at a meeting yesterday he had no idea of how much the hazard allowance of doctors is, nor if the pittance is paid as and when due.

“I am not aware. It is the standard job they do every day; it is the standard job”—that was his response when Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila asked him about the doctors’ complaint the ministry owes them a six-month backlog.

Besides embarrassing himself and the government he works for, Ehanire drew the fire of Gbajabiamila right there.

‘It is not enough to say you are not aware, and you dropped the ball,’ the speaker quipped in a video that has been trending online since then.

According to the National Association of Resident Doctors, the hazard allowance is N5000 monthly, and the government is owing them six months.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Thursday gave the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, a dressing down for failing to answer a question regarding the hazard allowance being paid to doctors treating COVID-19 patients.

The National Association of Resident Doctors had last week stated that Nigerian doctors were receiving N5, 000 a month as hazard allowance.

Nigerians who saw the video have lashed out at the minister for that negligence of the well-being of the human resources the nation needs during this viral crisis.