Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has suspended two senior officials of the Saving One Million Lives Programme for Result (SOML-PforR) for N170 million fraud.

The suspension is contained in a statement issued by Falade Gbenga, the spokesman for the Kwara State Ministry of Health, on Wednesday in Illorin.

The statement named the programme manager Ibrahim Omar and the programme accountant Alabi Olalekan as the suspended officials.

It said the suspension would allow for a probe into allegations of financial irregularities and inconsistencies in handling funds levelled against the officials.

“The suspension, and query of the officials, is unconnected to the alleged mismanagement of N170 million SOML-PforR fund,” it said.

The statement added that a 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.”

The government explained that it suspended the officials 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 fund between December 2019 and May 2021.”

It noted that the steps to sanitise the programme were in line with the transparency and accountability drive of Mr AbdulRazaq.

(NAN)