The Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) has called on the National Assembly to suspend deliberations on the proposed Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, 2020 until an appropriate consultative process is held, including a public hearing to gather public opinion and concerns.
The NGF, which met on Wednesday, expressed concern that State Governors who are at the forefront of the epidemic, were not consulted by the National Assembly over the proposed bill.
Chairman of the Forum, Governor Kayode Fayemi, said in a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, that a committee comprising the Governors of Katsina, Sokoto and Plateau was constituted to meet with the leadership of the National Assembly on the proposed Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, 2020.
“The NGF secretariat was also mandated to comprehensively review the bill and its implication on states,” Fayemi added.
Fayemi who is governor of Ekiti State, also disclosed that the forum deliberated on the deductions from revenues accruable to the federation account available for distribution to the three tiers of government, and noted the threat this poses on the fiscal capacity of states to respond to the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Members also raised concern about the ownership and distribution of proceeds from recovered looted funds and accounts or investments funded as first line charge from the federation account.
“The forum agreed to engage with the Federal Government to ensure that the governance arrangement of all federation-funded investments recognize state governments as shareholders in the distribution of proceeds and decision making,” Fayemi noted.
The governor also called for greater consultation and collaboration between the federal and state governments on the development of the 12-month Economic Sustainability Plan by the Federal Government.
The development plan was designed to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, but the state chief executives said that for a truly coordinated national response to the crisis, they should be involved in development planning.
A committee made up of the governors of Bauchi, Plateau, Kebbi, Akwa Ibom, Abia and Ekiti, was set up to interface with the Federal Government on the next medium-term National Development Plan.
Another committee comprising the governors of Gombe, Nasarawa, Delta, Ebonyi, Oyo and Kaduna was also set up to steer the activities of the NGF-Nigerian Economic Summit Group Economic Roundtable (NNER).
This was a sub-national platform of the NGF and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group created to promote sub-national competitiveness through public-private collaboration.
The NGF also expressed concerned over the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country and called “for additional measures by state governors to ramp up capacity for testing, increase the availability of isolation beds to at least 300 per state, accelerate the procurement of additional personal protective equipment (PPE) and training for health workers, as well as the continued enforcement of interstate restriction of movement.
“In line with the commitment made by the forum to intensify public-private collaboration for the delivery of palliatives from the private sector, governors are making warehouses available for the delivery of palliatives and have appointed state coordinators who will be responsible for the receipt and distribution of palliatives to vulnerable persons.”
The governors said they are coordinating additional response with the support of the Dangote Foundation to strengthen public health response and the delivery of palliatives to vulnerable persons.
They promised to create a volunteer work force of health personnel who would be trained and deployed to strengthen the availability of health workers in states in critical need.
