MISPLACED PRIORITY: NO SINGLE VENTILATOR BUT NASARAWA BOUGHT N500MILLION CARS FOR LAWMAKERS

                                                                        

Nasarawa is among states without a ventilator to help in the fight against coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria, but the state governor, Abdullahi Sule has bought 24 Toyota Hilux vehicles for state lawmakers, estimated at nearly N500 million.

 Speaker of Nasarawa House of Assembly, Ibrahim Abdullahi, on Monday stated that Abdullahi gave the 24 Toyota Hilux to the lawmakers as official vehicles.

Cost of ventilator Findings reveal that a hospital-grade ventilator cost between $25,000 (N9.175m) and $50,000 (N18.350 m), using the Central Bank’s official exchange rate of N367 for a dollar. A ventilator is a machine that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. A respiratory expert who craved anonymity said Nigeria requires about 10,000 respirators for emergencies over the ongoing pandemic. Most of the ventilators already present in the country are in tertiary hospitals—federal medical centres and teaching hospital, he noted. He said ventilators were very important equipment, not only being used for supportive care of COVID-19 patients, but other respiratory illnesses, adding that it was important for all hospitals to have them. Nasawara has not reported any confirmed case of COVID-19 but it shares boundaries with Kaduna, Abuja, Kogi, Benue and Taraba. Abuja, Kaduna and Benue have 58, six and one confirmed cases respectively.

However, in a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Tijjani Ahmed. “It is a tradition that the state government normally purchases official vehicles for newly-elected members to enable the legislators perform their oversight functions among other legislative activities effectively,” the Speaker of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Ibrahim Abdualahi, said during the presentation.
The State commissioner for Information, Dogo Shammah added, “We have some area that have bad terrain in the state, that is why they were given Toyota Hilux for them to go back and meet the people of their constituencies and hear their complaints instead of going to them during elections only. “The ventilators have been ordered and we are expecting anytime soon,” the commissioner said.

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