* Decries poor state of isolation centres
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has asked the
Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, to release the sum of N620million to the
Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), an amount budgeted for emergency
response to the Coronavirus (COVID – 19) outbreak.
Lawan made the call on Wednesday when the leadership
of the Senate went on a tour of isolation centres located at the University of
Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.
Lawan, after the visit, bemoaned the lack of
preparedness and expressed frustration at the state of the isolation centres,
which were yet to be completed.
Lawan said: “First of all, let me say that the
representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health, the Nigerian Centre for
Disease Control (NCDC) and the management of the University of Abuja Teaching
Hospital are in high spirits, looking determined to discharge their mandates
and obligations.
“But from our inspection here, the temporary
isolation centre is really not in good shape, it doesn’t look ready to receive
any patient, and I believe that this is something that we need to fix between
now and tomorrow.
“We are in an emergency, even if we don’t have
people who are affected, we shouldn’t just rest on our oars. We have to do
everything and anything possible to fix that temporary isolation centre to be
prepared to receive anyone who falls sick in this respect.
“I am sad, we are indeed actually sad, that of the
N620 million that was supposed to be released to this place for fixing of
everything here to NCDC, not a kobo has been released.
“We are going to get across to the Minister of
Finance and all the other authorities that have anything to do with this to release
this money latest between today and tomorrow.”
Lawan further lamented that Nigeria, despite
being a country with the largest economy in Africa, is yet to have a completed
isolation centre in any of the geo-political zones that would provide emergency
response to disease outbreak in the country.
He charged those saddled with leadership
responsibilities in the country to live up to expectations through timely
discharge of their mandates and duties.
“There’s no way that Nigeria, the largest
economy in Africa, with a population of two hundred million, and yet the
Federal Capital and six surrounding states of the North Central, you don’t have
one room that you can call an isolation centre, where anyone who unfortunately
falls into this crisis will be taken to. This is not acceptable.
“So we are going to ensure that the money is
released, we are not going to put pressure. This is what they are supposed to
do, and they must do it.
“I also believe that we should have a
replication of the permanent site, we should be able to complete this and then
have five others across the remaining geo-political zones of the country.
“Let’s spend money for our people, we waste
money for some things that are less important. This is about the health and
lives of the people of this country, and therefore, no investment is too much.
“We should be prepared at all times. We had
Ebola, SARS, now we have Coronavirus, we do not know what else will come, but
we should be prepared and ready for any eventuality, and no investment is too
much.
“The contractor said by the end of this month
this should be ready, we pray it should be faster, but by the end of tomorrow,
that temporary site must be ready.
“There’s no generator, no electricity, nothing.
There were two or three air conditioners brought this morning, maybe because
yesterday we said we were coming here. This is not acceptable.
“As leaders given responsibilities, we have to
do what is right. This is unfortunate. So, the Ministry of Finance should
release the N620 million between today and tomorrow.”
The Senate President assured Nigerians that the
relevant committees of the Senate will carry out a follow-up on Thursday to
ensure that work on the isolation centres begins and is completed.
“The Senate Committee on Health will come back
tomorrow (Thursday), we want to see that temporary isolation centre fixed.
“We need to be committed, we need to be very
serious, and this is the essence of our oversight, but because it is very
important, we decided that the leadership of the Senate should lead this
oversight,” Lawan said.