The Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku has appealed to the Federal Government to establish at least one testing centre for coronavirus in the state, in a bid to sufficiently ascertain victims of the virus.
Though the state at the moment has no active case recorded since May 18th 2020, the Governor, insists that it is not comfortable to assume.
He adds that it would have been preferable when the state has a testing centre so as to obtain confirmed data.
”The fact is, if I have a testing centre here, it will be faster and easier to test and get the result, and those affected will be treated or managed ”
”I will also be in a position to assess the number of people that are coronavirus positive or otherwise as well as estimate scientifically ”
He argues that the situation of the state not having any new cases is full of doubts because no one has come forward for sample collection and those that have been tested are found negative.
Governor Ishaku adds that the processes involved in taking the samples to Abuja, awaiting the results and returning back to the state are tedious.
”I think we need to do a lot more to reduce the rate of infections, for instance in public places, the FG should look into having automated machines that can screen individuals when entering or exiting public offices ”
On why he has decided to ease the lockdown, the Governor adds that though he feels not comfortable to do so and apart from the forthcoming council polls, residents are also complaining of their inability to get their daily bread for survival.
He was speaking when the delegation from Code of Conduct Bureau COVID-19 Monitoring team paid him a courtesy visit at the government house Jalingo to intimate him on their mission of assessing how donated palliatives by VSF, NEDC, NEMA among several others are distributed to the vulnerable residents of the state.
Earlier in his remark, the leader of the delegation Sa’adu Abubakar, the Federal Commissioner in charge of the Northeast sort the support of the Governor to monitor all government interventions.
The interventions to monitor, according to him, include conditional cash transfers, homegrown school feeding programme, distribution of palliatives in response to COVID-19.
Others are donations, distributions and utilization of all forms of support from individuals, public and private organizations as palliatives in response to COVID-19.
Abubakar says the move is to ensure that public officers conform to the highest standard of public morality and accountability.
He also asked for assistance from the state government to link them with schedule officers as well as security operatives for smooth operation.
Abubakar says the monitoring will continue as long as the pandemic lasts.
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