By Tony Abraham, Abuja
The Federal Government has said it would re-engage Governor Yahaya Bello so he can allow officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) test Kogi State residents for COVID-19.
Premium Reporters recalls that Yahaya Bello had stirred reactions in the state after he reportedly demanded officials of the NCDC, mobilized to the state, to first be isolated and tested for Coronavirus before allowing them to carry out their duty.
The medical experts were sent to Kogi state on Thursday, May 7 to support the state in combating any possible case of Coronavirus.
Recall that Kogi and Cross River State so far has not recorded any case COVID-19 pandemic.
However, it was reported that the NCDC officials shunned Governor Yahaya Bello’s request and they returned to Abuja.
Speaking during the daily briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, on Friday, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said NCDC officials need to complete their work.
Ehanire said: “We tried to send a team of the Ministry of Health and the NCDC into Kogi yesterday but there were some differences there to processes.
“This will mean that we need to re-engage the state governor again and work with him and his team to create the conditions to which the Ministry of Health and the NCDC can complete their job.
“The agreement we had with them after discussions with the Governors (Kogi and Cross River) is that we should send a delegation to the states just to validate the facts.
“Of course, we need that for our national records and to be able to report to the world what the situation is in our country because by now the whole world knows that we do not have any record from these two states.”