WE DID NOT SPEND N7bn IN BUILDING COVID-19 ISOLATION CENTRE- KOGI STATE GOVERNMENT
Kogi state government has debunked rumours that it spent 7 billion naira to construct an isolation centre for COVID-19 response.
The state commissioner for information and communication, Kingsley Fanwo, said the isolation centre was constructed for Lassa Fever patients, not COVID-19 cases.
On Tuesday, March 28, the isolation centre, located at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, was reportedly damaged by a storm.
The commissioner said that the Isolation Centre at the Federal Medical Center, Lokoja was built for Lassa Fever by the State Government not for COVID-19.
“It was never meant for COVID-19 and it is unfortunate that some falsehood merchants are peddling ridiculous figures around as the cost of the centre. Can the rumor peddlers produce the contract papers or even the evidence of the Governor’s statement to that effect?”
Fanwo said the state does not have that kind of money to spend on an isolation centre but that it is prepared for “any eventuality”.
“Kogi doesn’t have such resources and even if we do, they shall be expended on infrastructure and economic expansion program that has been the hallmarks of the Governor Yahaya Bello administration.
“China, the epicenter of the Virus didn’t even spend that much to construct an Isolation Centre. Not even Lagos, that is the epicenter of COVID-19 in Nigeria has spent such amount on Isolation Centres,” Fanwo said.
He added that the state’s isolation centres for COVID-19 are in Fareec Clinic, Lokoja; Confluence Diagnostic Centre, Lokoja, and a clinic donated to the state in Ankpa.
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