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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government has described the coronavirus (COVID-19) as a dangerous war hence the need for all hands to be on deck to defeat it.
It therefore called on the National Assembly to develop a legislative framework to prepare Nigeria for any future pandemic.
The chairman of the Presidential Task Force on the control of the COVID -19 pandemic and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, stated this when he led members of the committee to meet with the leadership of the National Assembly on Thursday.
He noted that the virus has spread across 209 countries and territories around the world, with a reported 1,500,000+ confirmed cases world-wide, 87,998 deaths with about 236,270 people who have recovered from the disease as of 8th April.
He added that the disease has placed considerable and significant strain on the global health care system and the economy of the world.
According to Mustapha, “our nation is at war against a very dangerous, unseen and ubiquitous enemy and all hands must be on deck to successfully prosecute the war.
“In addition to providing the kind of leadership already demonstrated, the National Assembly finds itself in the unique position to do the following, though not exhaustive: develop a legislative framework to prepare Nigeria for any future pandemic, develop a legislative framework for reforming and transforming our healthcare systems, and strengthen the legislative framework for economic growth through domestic manufacturing.”
The team also urged the law makers to deepen the legislative oversight during this pandemic and beyond, pass legislations that will further ease the ability of the executive to cushion the impact of the economic decline and be part of community mobilization and enlightenment efforts.
According to the SGF, the pandemic has provided the nation the unique opportunity to x-ray the state of the national health care systems which is in dire need of reforms and funding.
He said: “The weaknesses in our health systems became more glaring given the way more established health systems in Europe and America collapsed under pressure. The plan therefore is to lay a legacy foundation for the immediate, medium-and long-term development of the health system.
“To this end, the PTF, has proposed to utilise the resources being mobilised in the following strategic manner: direct development and delivery of critical infrastructure to states by donors; direct procurement and delivery of PPEs and other critical equipment by donors; deployment of Rapid Response Teams to states for capacity building and support and expansion of the testing capacity in the country.”
Mustapha added that for the sake of transparency and accountability, the PTF will not be directly involved in the collection and disbursement of the cash donations for COVID-19.
He said: “The Accountant General of the Federation has already published the account details for collection through some commercial banks and also provided the modalities for its utilisation.
“All the main COVID-19 accounts shall be domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria. However, all non-cash donations shall be duly received by the PTF, acknowledged, documented and appropriately deployed.”
