Minister of Information Lai Mohammed yesterday explained that releasing how much President Muhammadu Buhari spent on his medical vacation in the United Kingdom (UK) may jeopardise national security.
The President, who returned to Nigeria on March 10, spent about 50 days in the UK, where he carried out some medical tests.
He had also last June embarked on medical trip abroad.
The minister, who briefed State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, was reacting to the calls for the President to tell Nigerians the amount spent on his medical treatment abroad.
He was with Minister of Interior Abdulraman Danbazzau and the Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun
According to Mohammed, it was too sensitive to disclose the amount spent on the President’s health.
He said: “This matter has come several times and our position on the matter is quite straight forward. What are the President’s conditions of service? What are his entitlements in terms of his wellbeing and health care? The state is supposed to take responsibility for these.
“We believe that asking for how much has been spent on the health of the President is an issue that we should weigh very well both for national security and also for moral issues.
“I don’t know why we must divulge such very sensitive information. I might be wrong, but I don’t have experience elsewhere that the President of any country will be ill and be forced to disclose how much the state has spent on his health.
“Yes, there is Freedom of Information Act, but it is also carved in such a way that when such information is likely to endanger national security, I think it is an area that is not covered.”
On the protest by unions in his ministry, Mohammed said it was not unusual for unions to call for the removal of ministers.
He said: “They are complaining about welfare, but there is a limit to what government can do within the available resources.
“As much as we sympathise with them on the situation, the economy is simply not healthy enough to accommodate what it used to accommodate in the past.
“If anybody is concerned and worried about expenditures in my ministry, they should go and check because it is open.
“We have appealed to them several times but we met a culture that we cannot sustain,” he said
The minister promised that the ministry would look into some of the grievances that are genuine when the economy improves.
“We listen to them; they always meet with the Permanent secretary and directors. But once the resources are not there, there is little we can do. We will just continue to plead with them to be patient with us,” he added.
Dambazzau said the Council approved the procurement of some water carrying vehicles for the Federal Fire Service.
He said:“Today, FEC approved what is remaining of the 2016 budget, the procurement of 15 water tankers that have the capacity to be used as fighting trucks. This is costing the government N403 million out of the budget that was appropriated in 2016.
“The total budget is about N5.5 billion for the procurement of firefighting equipment and we have already procured a lot from that,” he said.
