The Northern Governors Forum (NGF) is seeking a special fund from the Federal Government to tackle the spread of COVID-19 in the region.
Simon Lalong, the chairman of the forum and governor of the Plateau, made the call in a statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr Makut Macham on Monday in Jos, after members’ meeting via teleconferencing.
From reports gathered, the Northern Governors met to discuss issues of COVID-19 with special concern to its effects on the region.
According to the statement, the chairman claims that some special funds were given to other States but no State in the region has received any special allocation in spite of their record of cases adding that the fund would help them in their serious efforts to avert any outbreak as well as prepare against any eventuality.
He expressed worry that efforts to tackle the pandemic had affected the states finances as they had spent huge money already and might not be able to sustain the gesture.
He said the forum would liaise with the federal government and the private sector to benefit from available palliatives and donations while the region was also making efforts to diversify its economy by concentrating on areas of its comparative advantage to reduce over dependence on federal government allocations.
Lalong said the region would strengthen border controls and surveillance as well as partnering, to ensure that there was synergy in enforcing movement restriction in the region adding that there were indications that enforcing cross-border movements remained a challenge, as some recorded cases in some states were from external contacts in spite of borders’ closure.
PRESIDENT BUHARI’S COMPREHENSIVE ADDRESS ON COVID-19 LOCKDOWN EXTENSION
The NGF boss said resolutions of their meeting were for each State to adopt suitable measures unique to its environment as total lockdown may be greatly burdersome, since most people in the region were farmers who needed to cultivate their farms, especially as the rainy season begins.
He said the forum would liaise with the federal government to ensure that every State in the region get at least one testing centre while highly populated ones could get two.
The chairman applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for the measures taken to tackle the pandemic and pledged to support him to defeat the disease while also commended the citizens of the region for supporting various directives of the State Governments in handling the situation, urging them to endure the situation a bit more as it will be laid to rest surely.
