THE Speaker of Kogi state House of Assembly Rt. Honourable Matthew Kolawole, has said the state Assembly is solidly queuing behind the state governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello in his conviction that the pandemic was nothing but a scam to fritter away resources of the country for the selfish gains of the western countries.
The Speaker stated this in an interactive session with the members of the correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists ( NUJ) in Lokoja , kogi state capital.
He lamented that all the symptoms of the covid 19 have always been with the people of this country and have been managing ailments like malaria,Cough ,pneumonia and other tropical diseases wondering why covid 19 should lockdown the whole economy of this country.
He decried the rate the covid 19 has bastardised Socio Economic, Religious and Educational lives of the country , urging the Federal Government to develop her home grown remedy for the curtailing of the pandemic rather than waiting for the West for solutions.
He added that even though, the governor does not believe covid 19 to be a pandemic , he has in earnest established Squadron Committee to marshal measures that will prevent the disease from entry the state.
While disproving the rumours making the rounds that governor Yahaya Bello is in friction with the Federal Government, said ,while the regulations is being obeyed , the economy should he reopened to avert the total collapse of the economy with its negative effect on the masses of this country.
He added that since the outbreak of the disease , the state has been leveraging on the measures adopted during Lassa fever outbreak which the state came out victorious, stressing that governor Bello is working hard to protect and provide for the needs of the citizenry.
” We are not fighting the Federal Government, but what we are saying is that since all the underlying ailments have lived with us, we should look inward for solutions rather than taking directives from the outside world.
” Last year we were faced with lassa fever which the state fought and defeated it.And just from the blues, Covid19 came and all we can do is to lockdown everything. To me, that is not the solution. We should relax the lockdown ,open up the economy while adhering to directives to develop our own solution.” He advised
He however explained that the coronavirus has had adverse effects on the performance of the House as it has to be shut down for many weeks.
He said despite the constraints, the House has passed number of bills and motion including the review of the 2020 Appropriation act.
He added that the legislature as an arm government,under his watch has been in synergy with the executive in passing bills and motions that have overall impact on the people.
On his constituency projects, he explained that his initial empowerment was abused by the recipients , adding that he has to shift from doling out motorbikes, tricycles to the training of youths which at the end of the training are giving start up funds for their businesses.
While assuring of the feasibility of the Assembly Autonomy, disclosed that the forum of the Speakers of the House of Assemblies has set up committee to work with the Executive to sort out grey areas.
