WHEN A PROFESSOR OF FORESTRY LEAD TASKFORCE ON MENINGITIS: AN ACCOUNT OF CRISIS BETWEEN ZAMFARA SSG AND GOV YARI’S ASSOCIATE

By Anas Sani Anka

There had been rumour making round the city of Gusau that, there is clash of interest between the Chairman of the State Taskforce on Meningitis Professor Abdullahi Shinkafi and one of the Governor’s close associate Alh Bello Dogo Mafara over accountability question related to management of funds provided by Governor Yari to curtail meningitis epidemic.

How the Scenario started.

It was reliably gathered that, Bello Dogo raised concern on the allegation that, the state taskforce on meningitis procured and distribursed drugs for only 8 Million naira as against the 56 million naira budgeted by the state government.

He accused the taskforce of not assisting the state government linking the recent waves of criticisms against the state Governor by the citizens over non-performance to ending the epidemic to the selfish decisions of the taskforce by not judiciously utilizing the funds for the purpose they were released for.

Our undisclosed source in the government house noted that, the premonition of the crisis started during the Governor’s tour of the Isolation Centers where it was discovered that some patients informed the Governor that, they paid for some drugs used in the treatment of the epidemic because they were not made available by the government.

He said, in Kaura namoda some patients even presented receipt of evidence of payment of drugs they procured to the Governor while the Chief Accounting Officer of the Taskforce for the local government was not in town to receive the Governor who was in tour of his local government.

Information reliably gathered reveals that, contrary to the report of the taskforce which was earlier presented to the Governor indicated that, the committee informed the Governor that, the exercise was hitch-free and that the taskforce has a leftover of 12 million naira out of the 56 million naira budgeted fund.

The source explained that, Alh Bello Dogo kept raising suspicious issues against the taskforce throughout the period the tour lasted for and on return to the Government House the Chairman of the Taskforce Prof. Abdullahi Shinkafi approached the Governor that, he cannot take this kind of character assassination against his personality by Alh Bello Dogo.

He added that, the atmosphere tensed and when Bello Dogo attempted to clarify if the Prof. was referring to him, he replied in affirmative an even attempted to hit him with force before public intervene and prevented the atmosphere from going violent.

Our take on the matter.

Our take on this encounter and the allegation against the taskforce is that, the scenario has caused the state another form of national disgrace and this is why from the inception of inaugurating the taskforce we argued that, the state government has made a serious error by appointing politician to head the committee especially looking at the peculiar nature of the epidemic.

States that are not playing politics with the epidemic appointed Medical Doctors in some states even consultants to head the taskforce or committee because they are train managers of the problem.

Zamfara appointed Professor Shinkafi as the head of the Taskforce on meningitis my question is what is his experience in Public Health management?. Or is he a Professor of Public Health like Abdulsalam Nasidi of Center for Disease Control?.

We need to keep politics out of matters of public interest. We insist that, the state government is wrong in appointing Professor Shinkafi to Chair the Taskforce and this is why issues that borders around accountability deficiency is raised against the whole exercise and this time around by the insiders not the Civil Society that are call names.

For Alh Bello Dogo or any other person(s) challenging the taskforce on this immoral decision I think they are perfectly right. And the state Governor should disband this taskforce for the interest of ending this meningitis epidemic in Zamfara.

There are renowned medical doctors at the Federal Medical Center Gusau, Yarima Specialists, Farida and King Fahad that are competent in leading this taskforce and they should be given the chance to bring their professional expertise to bear in ending this tragedy and that, the activities of this state taskforce should be investigated by a panel of inquiry.

The SSG should be limited to managing issues that are political in nature not issues that has to do with public safety. He is a Professor of Forestry not Public Health, Medicine or Pharmacy and therefore cannot lead this committee to a success.

As for denying people the chance to raise accountability questions on public resources entrusted on him this raise another hope for suspicion that, the Chairman of the taskforce has skeleton on his wadrove. And going violent is only going to cause another disgrace to the state and shows total disregard to the status and authority of the state Governor. SSG attempting to hit an associate of the Governor over mere allegations and in the presence of the Governor inside the State Government House?. This is a national disgrace.

The Governor should as a matter of public interest reconstitute that committee and order for the investigation in to the where about of our funds. As citizens we would sustain the pressure till the taskforce is disband and new one reconstituted.