Coronavirus: Reps agree to suspend plenary for two weeks

As part of the measures to prevent the spread of cornonavirus, the House of Representatives will suspend plenary for two weeks.

The decision was taken on Tuesday to allow for the installation of facilities to screen and detect anyone who might have contacted coronavirus.

It was however not stated when the suspension of plenary would begin.

A motion by a member of the House of Representatives at plenary, Josiah Idem (PDP-Akwa-Ibom) was amended to that effect by the Minority Leader Ndudi Elumelu.

Idem had moved a motion which sparked the debate on the need to tackle the problem of coronavirus when Elumelu drew the attention of the House to the fact that there was no facility to find out if anyone entering the National Assembly was carrying the virus.

“I urge the leadership of the National Assembly to suspend plenary for two weeks to allow management to sanitise and put facilities in place to detect the virus.

“Let the Committee on Health and other relevant committees ensure compliance,” he urged.

The point was unanimously agreed upon.

In his motion, Idem said as part of efforts to fight the virus, the legislature should set up a committee which would work with the Executive arm of government.

He said surveillance should be intensified at the borders, just as he called for release of enough fund to the Ministry of Health to be able to adequately fight the virus.

In his contribution, Nasir Alliyu (APC-Kano) warned that the facilities on ground were not adequate to fight the virus.

According to him, with only three isolation facilities which could barely accommodate 30 persons, it was obvious that the country was not adequately prepared to prevent the spread.

“God forbid if we have to quarantine 10,000 persons.  What do we do? There is need to get really prepared,” he warned.

Other contributors to the debate included Ibrahim Isiaka (APC-Ogun)  and Inombeck-Awaji Abiante (PDP-Rivers).

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