William Attah, Gombe
Gombe State Taskforce on Covid-19 says it is now out of bankruptcy following the release of unspecified amount of money by the State Government to boost their tracing and testing capacity.
Chairman of the committee, Professor Idris Mohammed, stated this while briefing newsmen on the activities of the committee in the last two weeks.
The chairman had during his last briefing two weeks back, complained that the committee had gone bankrupt even with the State experiencing increasing community transmission of the corona virus stressing that there was much work to be done while the committee had no money.
But during the briefing Wednesday, the chairman of the taskforce, announced that the committee has now been boosted with funds to enable it carry out its activities, foremost among them being the tracing and testing of COVID-19 suspects since the State is now in the stage of community transmission.
When asked about what the committee had spent since it’s inauguration and the amount recently released, in line with his policy of transparency and accountability, the chairman said this may require going through their financial records as he will like to be very specific with figures, though that was not available at that moment.
In his words, “In our policy of transparency and truth, we will love to give you figures that we have certified to be correct. I can’t tell you how much we have received from beginning or recent allocation.
” Unless it comes to auditing purpose or there is suspicion of wrong doing, these issues do not really concern the public. But I want to assure you that Government itself has mandated that every kobo spent by the taskforce must be audited and and a complete audit submitted to him (Governor)”, he said.
He commended the change in attitude of most people who now come out to be tested as well as identify suspected persons with covid-19 cases as subcommittees have been going round communities for contact tracing of those who have come in contact with people who have tested positive.
He said, Gombe now has 134 active cases of covid-19 admitted in various isolation centres within the State and has recorded 19 deaths so far, since the outbreak of the virus.
