The leadership of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly has explained why it has constituted a 6-man committee to oversee the activities of the State Taskforce on COVID-19, saying that, the committee in place was not to probe and impeach the State Deputy Governor, Emmanuel Akabe
But rather, it was set up in the overall interest of the state, and on the advice of the State Deputy Governor to boost the confidence of the people on their activities.
The State Taskforce on COVID-19 had in June 2020 revealed that it has so far spent over N536, 156,000 million in fighting the novel coronavirus pandemic in the state.
The assembly however denied media report making the round in some national dailies, not Business Day that, the Akabe’s led-taskforce was under close watch by the lawmakers for spending a whopping sum of N536, 156.000 million on the pandemic in the last four months.
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According to the report, the assembly committee was to checkmate the reckless expenditure of the state task force on COVID-19 as well as to have first-hand information on the activities of the task force.
It added that Akabe “will henceforth be monitored by the state House of an assembly having spent half a billion naira so far from the funds raised through donations by various individuals, and organisations to assist the state in its fight against the novel coronavirus”.
It would be recalled that the speaker of the house, Ibrahim Balarabe-Abdullahi had on Monday, 27 July 2020 announced the ad-hoc committee simply to monitor their activities for fairness in their dealings after Daniel Ogazi moved a motion under matters of public importance on the need for a committee to monitor the activities of the state task force.
The Chairman, House Committee on Information, Mohammed Adamu-Omadefu, while reacting to the news report with Newsmen in Lafia, exonerated the assembly from the report.
Adamu-Omadefu said, the constitution of the committee was not meant to probe the state deputy governor, Emmanuel Akabe, who is the state chairman of the Task Force on COVID-19.
According to him, we need to correct the impression in some national dailies and online medium that the Ad-hoc committee was set up to probe the state deputy governor, this is not true, hence the need for him to clear the air.
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“The Ad-hoc Committee was set up to monitor the activities of the state Task Force on COVID-19 towards fighting COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
“It was set up in the best interest of the state as it was even the state deputy governor that has advised the House to set up the Ad-hoc Committee on COVID-19 in order to monitor their activities.
“We woke up this morning reading and seeing some reports in some national dailies and online that the House has set up the Ad-hoc Committee on COVID-19 to probe and to impeach the deputy governor.
“This is not the target, rather it was meant to complement government efforts in the fight against COVID-19,” he said.
Adamu Omadefu commended Governor Abdullahi Sule for the proactive steps taken in tackling the spread of coronavirus pandemic in the state.
He assured the assembly’s commitment to supporting the government’s fight against the pandemic in ensuring that the people safe and for the overall development of the state.
