Kwara lawmakers debunk minister’s claim of sponsoring elections

Agency, PharmAccess launch IsDB initiative
Twenty-one of the 24 Kwara State House of Assembly members have debunked the claim by Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, at the weekend, that he sponsored their elections in 2019.

At a press briefing in Ilorin, yesterday, the lawmakers led by the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Danladi-Salihu (Ilesha-Gwanara Constituency), asked the minister to publicly mention any of the members he allegedly helped financial before, during or after the polls.

Mohammed, who leads a splinter group of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara, opened a parallel secretariat of the party in Ilorin at the weekend, and drew a battle line between his faction and the one controlled by Governor AbdulRahaman AbdulRazak.

Since the ‘Oto ge’ political storm pulled the Saraki dynasty off the state’s political saddle, struggle for the soul of the state had led to a cold war between AbdulRasaq and Mohammed.

OVER 4,000 low income earners across 16 local councils will benefit from the Health Insurance Scheme (HIS) packaged by Kwara State Health Insurance Agency, initiated and bankrolled by PharmAccess Foundation and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Transform and Innovation Grant.

The innovative project, tagged ‘Sustainable Business Case for Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria’, is primarily to facilitate and complement the efforts of the state government to upscale access to affordable and quality basic healthcare for all the targeted residents.

The Director, Health Plans and Digital Innovations, PharmAccess Foundation, Mr. Emeka Ajanwachuku, during the launch of the project in Ilorin, said: “Improving the bank’s grant is for the purpose of addressing demand-side and supply-side challenges of the Kwara State Health Insurance Scheme.

“Besides, it is to complement the efforts of the Kwara State Government and the Basic Health Care Provision Fund towards improving healthcare coverage for the low-income households.”

Ajanwachuku added that the IsDB-funded project would further enhance the strategic implementation of the state’s HIS and would be utilised for financing the premium of about 4,000 low-income population, mobilising the informal sector population and strengthening the capacity of healthcare providers participating in the scheme.

At the event, the Executive Secretary of the state’s HIS, Dr. Olubunmi Jetawo-Winter, emphasised the significance of the IsDB grant to the agency’s goal.

Jetawo-Winter noted: “The impressive funding support and goodwill the scheme is receiving revolves round the political will and the passion of our governor, AbdulRazaq, who is making efforts at ensuring that the Kwara populace, more than ever, have unlimited access to healthcare services, through the initial investment of the state government in a sustainable social health insurance scheme for its people.”