The Writers Against AIDS has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the financial transactions of state agencies for the control of HIV/AIDS mostly headed by governors’ wives.
This was contained in a statement on Monday by the National Coordinator, Wole Adedoyin.
WAAIDS said the funds, which ought to have been used in taking care of people living with AIDS, were either diverted into unknown accounts for selfish purposes.
In some states, Adedoyin noted, the chairmanship and membership of the agency for the control of HIV/AIDS was now political.
The statement added: “It is our opinion that the agency for the control of AIDS should be headed by medical practitioners who are well versed in the field and not the wives of elected state governors who have seen the position as their constitutional rights.
“It should also be noted that every new infections starts with someone who is already infected. New infections occur because infected persons do not take the necessary precautions or because of poorly organized protective services.
“Patients are also not being sufficiently educated on their responsibility to prevent the spread of HIV and are not being included in protective service. HIV diagnosis is a traumatic experience that significantly changes a person’s life.
“Many people in Nigeria are still unaware of their status; these and others should be the watchwords of those agencies at the state level but they failed to discharge them.
“We are therefore calling on EFCC to beam her searchlight and investigate fraudulent activities going on in some of these states agencies. Their accounts should be audited. Valuable lives of people living with HIV/AIDS are wasting every day for political reasons.”
