The Benue State House of Assembly has passed for second reading the Debt Management Office Establishment and Highly Infectious Diseases Emergency Prevention Bills 2020.
The Majority Leader, and member representing Gwer West State Constituency, Mr. Damian Cheme, in his lead debate said the Debt Management Office (DMO) when established “will coordinate all forms of credit facilities on behalf of the State Government.
“This includes evaluating the credit worthiness of the State, liaising with the National Debt Management Office, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), internal and external leaders and determine when the state needs loans for development purposes and the handling of emergencies.
“The Debt Management Office shall also be empowered to help the state liquidate all loans obtained so that it is not ridiculed or unnecessarily encumbered,” he added.
Cheme explained that “the establishment of the Debt Management Office is part of the fiscal reforms embarked upon by the state. Just recently we read two bills: The Fiscal Responsibility Commission Bill and the Public Procurement Commission Bill. The current bill we are reading for the second time is to perfect the fiscal reforms of our government”.
Also contributing, the Minority Leader, Mr. Bem Mngutyo, described the bill “as concise and precise. When it is passed into law, it will ascertain which loan is beneficial to the state”
Mr. Terkaa Ucha said “the bill will confine the government within the limits of their expenditure”
Leading the debate on the Highly Infectious Diseases Emergency Prevention Bill, Chairman, House Committee on Health and Human Services, Hon. Okponya Joseph informed his colleagues that, the ability to identify and respond to outbreaks promptly and limit their impact rest on the availability and implementation of appropriate laws, policies, processes and systems to help detect the outbreaks early and take action that will mitigate the spread of such diseases.
“In Nigeria, constitutional responsibilities on health cut across the three tiers of government. Laws, policies and guidelines at the Federal level do not necessarily bind the states to implement them unless they are first adopted as state law.”
READ ALSO: Infectious Diseases Bill: Senate Reacts To Governors’ Call To Suspend Further Considerations
He explained that, “the import of the bill is to prevent and contain the spread of highly Infectious diseases such as Coronavirus which constitutes a serious and imminent threat to the public health of the people of Benue State.
“The bill issues regulations and guidelines to the teeming citizenry of the state whose lives are threatened daily by the deadly pandemic and informs them of the necessary screening, testing and isolation.
“It equally encapsulates restrictions of movements of people, events, gathering and commercial activities, and prohibits hoarding of food stuffs, drugs and other essential supplies
“The bill imposes restrictions on transportation, storage and disposal of COVID-19 victims and caution against the transmission, spread of false information regarding the pandemic
“It will empower and provide legal backing to the initiatives, activities and efforts of the Chief Executive Officer of the state which is the Governor and the frontline health workers and practitioners that are directly involved in combating Infectious diseases”
In their contributions, the Speaker, HlMr. Titus Uba disclosed that most of the states have passed this law and expressed the hope that when the state passes this bill into law, it will help in the management of any outbreak of infectious disease.
The Deputy Speaker, Christopher Adaji also described the bill “as apt saying the import cannot be overemphasized as the management, prevention of viruses will be effective.
The Majority Leader, Damian Cheme also said the bill will help the state to have a law which will be used in the event of any outbreak of infectious disease”
The bills, after the second reading was referred to the Committees on Finance and Health and Human Services respectively for further legislative processing.
