The Commissioner for Health in Cross River State who doubles as the acting chairperson of Commissioners for Health Forum in Nigeria, Dr. Betta Edu on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 called on the Federal Government to provide bailout funds to other States in the Country.
Dr. Edu made the call while speaking with journalist in Abuja, saying that some States are financially overstretched and the internally generated revenue can not sustain them in paying salaries of workers in the State anymore.
She however, urge Federal Government to release the total N67.2 billion support fund promised it promised to give to States.
According to her; “There was a total lockdown in all the States. Most States can’t pay salaries. Their internally generated revenues went down. The Federal Government needs to release the promised N2.1 billion for States to help them tackle this pandemic.
“Only few States have been given something. I think Lagos, Ogun, Kano and Jigawa. The rest are yet to get the support funds. States need these funds to help them fight the spread of the virus.
“States may not have enough sample collection kits. This is like a marathon race and States are already overstretched financially. States need to be able to train people who can collect samples in all the Local Governments. States need to be able to set up designated places where these samples can be collected.
“We cannot be speaking from the two sides of our mouth. Go to the markets in every State. People are just living as if the virus does not exist. People don’t wear face masks and our lifestyles don’t encourage social distancing at all.
“We want to see more of support from the Federal Government to States to enable them build more resilient healthcare systems. We also want to see a system where we can have a universal healthcare coverage. There are no insurance packages in many States.’’
Olaoluwa Adekunle
