The Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly says the collaborative and concerted efforts among all arms of government, members of the civil societies and citizenry were responsible for the overall success achieved in containing the spread of the COVID 19 pandemic and ameliorating its impacts on the people of the State.
This was just as he rejected the report apportioned to the State on Covid -19 Accountability tracker, describing it as subjective against the reality of the State sterling performance during the period.
Oluomo stated this during a-day interface with government agencies and policy makers of Ogun State to discuss findings from COVID-19 Response Report, organized by the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) held at OOPL, Abeokuta.
The Speaker therefore tasked members of the Civic Society Organizations to often engage relevant government officials in Ministries, Department and Agencies to access credible information towards ensuring effective appraisal of government’s performance and interventions in order to further entrench accountability and transparency in governance.
Appraising the role of the Prince Dapo Abiodun- led administration in the four phases of the pandemic, the Speaker lauded the efforts of philanthropists, who complemented government’s efforts at providing palliative and relief materials to the people of the State.
According to Oluomo, the Ninth Legislature equally contributed its quota through the enactment of the Ogun State Public Health Law, 2020, to assist government tackle emergency public health issue, in addition to the unanimous approval of the State Government’s request to access N250bn as three- year Medium Term Expenditure Frame Work (MTEF) programme of the State to stimulate and grow the State economy to be accessed in tranches of N100bn annually.
He however clarified that the State had not received any part of the tranches of the bond approved for it by the Assembly during the covid 19 pandemic.
“Let’s note that the entire period of the virus outbreak- its first, second and third waves were better moments to assess the gains of the response through the all-inclusive system adopted by the present administration in addition to the existing mutual interdependence among all the arms of government; which had helped in repositioning the gateway State as one of the most responsible, responsive and efficient in managing public health crisis in the country”, the Speaker stated.
Earlier in their remarks, the Permanent Secretary, State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mrs. Funmilayo Dada, representative of the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adetonwa Festus and that of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Kazeem Wonuola, reeled out the efforts of their respective ministries, pointing out that the present administration remained responsive to delivery of good governance through all-inclusive approach to infectious diseases management.
In his presentation titled: “Social Audit Survey on Accountability and Transparency of Covid 19 Funds in Nigeria” a university Don, Prof. Kehinde Olayode, opined that government should legislate on the management of donations, grants or loans during pandemic and design standardize framework for managing COVID-19 funds or resources.
Earlier in her opening remarks, the Executive Director, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi submitted that the aim of the interface was to provide better ways to handle global emergencies, especially as it concerned citizen’s welfare and economic sustenance through social audit to monitor and collate response from members of the public.
