House of Reps seek N36b special fund for states

* Summons PTF, NCDC over Kano’s mass deaths

The House of Representatives on Tuesday debated the mysterious deaths in Kano State and resolved to ask that N1 billion be made available by the Federal Government to each of the 36 states.

The N1 billion intervention is to enable the states provide the needed facilities to combat and prevent further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic .

The lawmakers said the impact of the lockdown caused by the spread of the virus has negative financial impact on the state, some of which are already struggling to survive.

The House also agreed to summon the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha; Health Minister Osagie Ehanire and the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, over the mass deaths in Kano.

These are highlights of the resolutions reached by the lawmakers while debating a motion yesterday.

The House directed its Health Committee to investigate the deaths, which have created fear among residents of the state.

Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ehanire and Ihekweazu are to explain the House efforts the Federal Government have made to unravel the cause(s) of the Kano deaths and the solutions.

on Tuesday, Kano State University of Science and Technology announced in a statement that it had lost one its teachers, Dr Ghali Kabir Umar of the Department of Architecture. Umar’s death brings to five the number of prominent scholars who died in the last 72 hours by the state.

The House, in adopting the motion presented by its leader, Alhassan Doguwa , also called for the establishment of infectious disease testing centres in all the 774 local government areas in the country to ensure that those in rural areas are not left out in the fight against COVID-19.

It suggested that religious leaders and traditional rulers should be included in the fight against the pandemic virus.

Leading the debate on the motion, Doguwa said: “We, the 24 members of the House from Kano State, are on our knees begging for urgent intervention to help save our people from this calamity.

“If care is not taken, what is happening in Kano may be worse than Boko Haram. It is silently wiping out people. The areas affected have a very high population and the highest number of polling units in the country.

“What is happening in Kano is not about politics or blaming the governor. The governor (Addullahi Ganduje), just like all of us, is human. The COVID-19 pandemic has nothing to do with politics. Kano is a cosmopolitan city with people from all over the country.”

Doguwa expressed concern about the “unexplained” deaths in Kano in recent weeks, adding that it was unfortunate that the state, being the most populated in the country, has only one testing centre which has been shut down for about a week now.

He also expressed concern about the current testing capacity in the country, which is about 3,000 a day, as against South Africa’s 10,000 test capacity per day.

Toby Okwuchukwu, who contributed to the debate, said care must be taken in addressing the situation in KanoState.

“It is Kano today, it may be another state tomorrow,” Okwuchukwu warned, advising that the country must not wait for an outbreak of such unknown ailment in another state before doing something.

Haruna Mshelia called for the engagement of community and religious leaders in educating the people about the dangers of COVID-19. He expressed concern about trending social videos of people chanting there is no Coronavirus.