House of Reps Probe $4.6bn Donor Health Funds, Tighten Oversight on Global Fund Grants

The House of Representatives is turning up the pressure on organisations that manage Nigeria’s donor health funds — and the numbers they’re looking into are significant.

The Committee on Infectious Diseases resumed its probe into roughly $4.6 billion in grants Nigeria received from the Global Fund and USAID between 2021 and 2025, targeting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious diseases. Committee chairman Amobi Ogah led an oversight visit Sunday to key implementing partners in Abuja, including the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria, Family Health International, and Catholic Relief Services.

The probe isn’t a witch-hunt, Ogah said — but the message was clear. “It is imperative that every mobilised resource must be judiciously expended and accounted for. Therefore, the committee is charging all Global Fund recipients to sit up as it will no longer be business as usual,” he said.

Going forward, all implementing partners must submit their activity plans directly to the National Assembly and file quarterly progress reports. The committee wants to fix what it sees as loose oversight — too many recipients operating without adequate monitoring, and duplication of roles between principal and sub-recipients that makes accountability harder to trace.

Nigeria is among the largest recipients of Global Fund support in the world. It carries the second-biggest HIV burden globally, and malaria remains a leading cause of death among children under five. How that $4.6 billion was actually spent — and what it achieved — is the question the House now wants answered.

Sources: Punch, Daily Trust, Guardian Nigeria, New Telegraph