Anxiety As National Assembly Members Resume Plenary

There is serious anxiety as National Assembly workers, journalists and people with businesses within the complex resume today (Tuesday).

Recall that the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari had forwarded a letter to the speaker of the House of Representative claiming that some lawmakers failed to undergo screening at the airport after a visit to the abroad.

Some newsmen covering the Senate have vowed not to approach the press centre on Tuesday due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and due to the overcrowded facility with no feasible ventilation.

Banks with the complex promised to attend to customers but will follow all the necessary measures of social distancing and provision of hand sanitizer for customers.

Part of the fear among some members of the National Assembly staff is if the lawmakers who just returned from the abroad will be around for today’s plenary.

Some people called on the leadership of the two chambers to excuse the lawmakers that just returned from a trip from outside Nigeria.

The spokesperson for the Senate, Godiya Akwashiki, while speaking on the situation noted that he is not aware if the affected lawmakers had gone for the Coronavirus test.

Akwashiki said, “There is no way that I will know if the affected senators have gone for the test or not because they don’t report to me.”

“I can also not confirm if they would be part of the plenary tomorrow (Tuesday) because I have no such information.”

Akwashiki had told journalists covering the Senate to bear with the leadership of the red chamber over the poor state of the ever-crowded facility, pledging that something would be done about it soon.

He had said, “There is no way we can close down the Press Centre. Doing so will mean closing down the Senate chamber too.”