… As NCDC Boss apologies to Speaker
As Nigeria battles to contain the deadly outbreak of the Coronavirus in the country, well meaning individuals, corporate organisations have continued to contribute their quota to see that the virus is contained in states across the federation.
With the billions of naira donated so far, the House of Representatives is seeking a breakdown of monies collected and yet to recover since the outbreak of the virus.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila asked the Chairman of the Presidential Task force on COVID 19, Boss Mustapha to furnish the House with details of donations collected for the sake of transparency and accountability.
Recall that the House had invited the head of the PTF, minister of health, Osagie Ehanire, NCDC Boss Chikwe Ihekweazu to brief the lawmakers on strange deaths in Kano State and efforts put in place to contain the virus.
The speaker said ” it is a good time for us to take stock. We have heard of alot of donations coming into the coffers from private, from everywhere, have all the donations been recieved? And if there is still outstanding after about a month of pledging…How or what do you intend to do to recover them? I am not unaware and many of us here are not unaware that people pledge for the sake of pledging. We want to know if all monies have been recieved because there are people out there who are calculating this announcement and they will ask you to give a breakdown of how much was spent and unfortunately for you not all monies may have come in.
” it is a good time for the purposes of accountability and transparency to tell the whole world whether or not all the monies have been recieved”
While commending the Secretary to the government of the Federation for the hazard allowance initiated by the federal government for front line workers Gbajabiamila said Memorandum of Understanding reached must be one that will be Implemented and not just documented.
He asked if there is a time line and a base that the hazard allowance will be paid to the frontline workers
” I listened carefully to your speech and what you said was that an MoU has been raised with the heath workers, my question will be is one thing to have an MoU and it’s another thing implement or executive it”.
Global figures had risen to over 3million and out of which over one million have recovered.
Mr Mustapha is, however, concerned about the figures in Nigeria and the pressure that is being brought to bear on the country’s health system.
He said Kano state is turning out to be the epicentre of the virus in the North
In line with laid out protocols the initial measures to contain the virus in Kano State include a Lockdown.
Despite the well marshalled arguments there are lingering questions…
For instance have all the donations pledged been received and how much is outstanding?
And perhaps more controversial is the quarantine act and a quote credited to the NCDC director General that the middle of the coronavirus crisis is not a good time to amend the law.
The speaker said “Many people have lashed out to your statement about the middle of a crisis not been a good time to amend the law, you are also purported to have said no one consulted you and I will like clarification on this statements”
He said “DG I will like to know how you stock that up against your now famous position that this is not the time to amend the quarantine act and in answering that you also stated that the House did not consult you”
” it is not at the stage we took that bill that we consult stakeholders, stakeholders are consulted at the stage of public hearing or committee level”
” So the question for me is, DG have you had people escaping the isolation centre? And I believe you have, you have reported cases of people escaping tbe Isolation centre…so how does the current law deal with someone who escapes the isolation centre today and has the potential of infecting hundreds of people in one hour?
“Second question…is the current virus, the COVID 19 covered by the quarantine act because from my believe it is not? So these are the questions I want you to answer
The Director General of the NCDC will however not be drawn into a debate.
Chikwe Ihekweazu who admitted the need for an updated legislation to the infectious diseases control law, noted that the NCDC is the most affected by the insufficient nature of the current Act.
He said “Mr Speaker this questions were thrown to me in the context of a television interview on the same morning that I was seeing tbe bill for the first time.
” You are absolutely right in saying that the point of consultation had not reached, but I was answering to a sprcific question by a journalist at the time If I had been consulted? the only honest answer to give at the time was that I hadn’t yet because I hadn’t been” he said
“So without going into the details of what was said or not in the public space, I would like to assure yourself and all the members and the presidential task force, that we look forward to the diseases Infectious bill infact a public health bill that brings together the functions of all the agencies, define responsibility and leads us to a position where we can really be in a stronger position to protect the health of Nigerinas in our federal Republic.
” Mr Speaker, I am sorry if this comment caused any offence but you could not have a stronger ally in the review of our legislative framework to the fight against infectious diseases in our country” he said
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