Claims spending over N500m fighting pandemic

Nasarawa State has received no money from either the Federal Government or foreign donors to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the state.

The deputy governor and chairman of the state’s task force on COVID-19, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, disclosed this yesterday while briefing journalists at his office along Shendam Road, Lafia.

However, in a letter dated May 21, 2020, and addressed to Governor Abdullahi Sule, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had declared a donation of N100,000 to the state government for implementation of critical low cost but high impact.

According to Akabe, the state has received N94.76 million from private individuals and corporate donations and has spent N536.156 million in the fight against COVID-19 in the state.

He explained that the task force spent the fund received judiciously.

On how the money was disbursed, he disclosed that Dalhatu Arafat Specialist Hospital (DASH) got N3,530,000; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development got N134,350,000; Ministry of Health got N253,890,000; Ministry of Information got N3,530,000; while Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources got N218,000.

Other beneficiaries, according to him, are the secretariat of the task force (N1,850,000), Ministry of Justice (N74,981,000), Head of Service (N3,000,000), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) office (N32,288,000), Information and Communications Technology (ICT) office (N1 million), Karu Council (N4,500) and Nasarawa Council (N3 million).

Nasarawa has so far recorded 193 cases of COVID-19. While 94 recovered, six, unfortunately, lost the fight with the virus.

To ease the hardship the residents experience due to the lockdown imposed by the government, the state announced a relaxation but said the ban on motorcycles, tricycles, social and religious gatherings and restriction on movement between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. remained in place.