Reps to probe fund disbursement at Abuja College of alternative medicine

Reps

The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, resolved to investigate the activities of the College of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Abuja, including the disbursement of funds to it by the Federal Government.

The resolution of the House followed the adoption of a motion during Wednesday’s plenary, sponsored by Hon. Jonathan Gbefwi and four other members.

The Federal Government had in 2008, acting on the recommendation of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, established the Federal College of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Abuja, as a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Health.

Recall that the Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Act, Cap. M8. Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 provided the legal basis for the practice of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Nigeria in relation to the practice of Homoeopathic Medicine, Naturopathic Medicine. Acupuncture, Osteopathy, and Chiropractic in Nigeria.

In 2018, the Federal Government, through the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, created a Department of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine in the Federal Ministry of Health with the task of developing and integrating Complementary and Alternative Medicine into the mainstream of the Nigerian Health Care Delivery System.

Speaking on the motion, Gbefwi noted that the National Assembly passed the Federal College of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Establishment) Act, 2021, as an unconventional institution for the pursuit of academic and professional knowledge in the field of complementary and alternative medicine in Nigeria.

“The House is concerned that the College has remained closed since October 16, 2010, following the shutdown of academic activities of the College by the National Universities Commission for running degree programmes without the mandatory approvals and due process

“We are disturbed that in 2011, the Federal Ministry of Health suspended the management of the College and instituted an Interim Administrative Team to manage its affairs, expending capital and overhead allocations amounting to hundreds of millions of naira for over 13 years.