Two officials of the Saving One Million Lives Programme for Result (SOML-PforR) in Kwara have been suspended over alleged financial irregularities and inconsistencies in the handling of funds.
Their suspension, according to a statement by Falade Gbenga Tayo, Press Secretary, Kwara State Ministry of Health, was to pave way for a thorough and influence-free investigation.
“The suspended officials are the SOML-PforR State Programme Manager Dr Ibrahim Omar and the programme Accountant Alabi Rahman Olalekan,” the statement read.
The statement underscored that the steps to sanitise the programme were in line with the transparency and accountability drive of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
The funds alleged to have been mismanaged was to the tune of N170m.
The statement further noted that preliminary probe into the allegations revealed “some inconsistencies” and that efforts to get the officials to offer satisfactory explanations and verification were “being deliberately frustrated”.
It added that the officials were being suspended from the programme to “enhance uninterrupted investigation”, urging them to cooperate with the intra-ministerial investigative committee empanelled to look into the “financial transactions of the SOML-PforR between December 2019 and May 2021”.
