The House of Representatives has summoned chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha, to appear before it to offer explanations to the mysterious deaths in Kano State.
Also summoned are the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Enakhire, and Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu.
They were asked to appear before the House on Wednesday to explain the possible causes of the deaths of hundreds on Nigerians in less than two weeks.
This was as the House also appealed to the Federal Government to urgently release N15 billion to enable Kano State government tackle the emerging threats of COVID-19 and solve the mystery behind the sudden deaths of many citizens in the state.
The resolutions followed a motion under Matter of Urgent Public Importance moved by the House Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, from Kano.
Doguwa had, while moving the motion, noted that the index COVID-19 case was recorded in February 27, 2020.
He said while the country had so far recorded 1,337 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 40 deaths and 255 recoveries, the House should be mindful that the Federal Government had released N5 billion to the NCDC to scale up capacity and strategise rapid response to Coronavirus pandemic.
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Doguwa expressed worries over the rising spate of unexplained deaths in Kano State in recent weeks, where 77 COVID-19 cases and one death had been recorded in less than two weeks.
He said: “Kano State being the most populated state of the federation, according to the National Population Commission, has only one testing centre, which has been shut down for about a week now, reportedly due to lack of some testing materials and reagents.”
He prayed the House to summon the DG, NCDC, Minister of Health, and chairman, Presidential Task Force to appear before it at plenary on Tuesday May 5 , 2020 to brief it on government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its template for the intervention in all the states of the federation.
He also urged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency and priority, scale up the nation’s COVID-19 testing capacity, even as he called on the NCDC to adopt creative and proactive modern approaches and technologies in the management of COVID-19 pandemic.
Doguwa also urged the House to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the unexplained huge number of deaths in Kano State.
Joining the debate, Mr. Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu), called for massive support to the people and government of Kano State, saying that death to a Nigerian anywhere is death to Nigerians everywhere.
