President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has asked the
Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, to immediately release the sum of N620m 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 undertook a tour of Isolation Centres located at the University of
Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.
The Senate President, while speaking to journalists
after an inspection of two facilities, bemoaned the lack of preparedness and
expressed frustration at the state of the isolation centres which were yet to
be completed.
Speaking on the findings of the Senate leadership,
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.”
The Senate President, 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.
“So, 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.
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