Gombe gov signs Bills to ensure transparency into law

Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has signed three bills which were passed by the State House of Assembly into law for effective governance of the state.

The bills assented to by the Governor are: Gombe State Hospitals Services Management Board Law, 2019; Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Management Law, 2019 and Gombe State Council on Public Procurement and Public Procurement Bureau Law, 2019 as contained in a statement by Ismaila Uba Misilli, Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the Governor.

While speaking shortly after assenting to the three laws, Inuwa Yahaya described the Acts as vital, noting that they will help in fostering efficiency and effectiveness in healthcare service delivery as well as engendering transparency, accountability and good governance in Gombe state.

On the Health-related laws, the Governor said that “. It was disheartening and point of concern seeing that Gombe state was the only state in the whole country without a Hospital Management Board. But with the signing of the Hospitals Services Management Board bill into law, our hospitals will now operate better and ordinary people will now have some reprieve in terms of basic healthcare service”.

He then gave an assurance that his administration will double up efforts and set up the board so that it will bridge the gap and cover up the lost grounds in this area.

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The Governor added that “Equally, with the Contributory Healthcare Management Board Law in place, Gombe state will now align with the national health policy and we shall access the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, which is set aside at the Federation Accounts and which can be accessed only with this law in place”.

He added, “A lot of Governors had since replicated the National Health Insurance Scheme and have been accessing the funds to improve the basic health care services in their respective states. With this development, Gombe state has now joined the league and there will be some succour for the people, and in particular, the less privileged ones, who find it difficult to get support when needed”.

On the public procurement law, he noted that the bureau had been in existence in the state but without any enabling law.

He said, ” With this law in place, we now have an effective law that will guide our procurement process both at public and private levels. It will also help us in aligning with the fiscal transparency policy, which has been in operation at the federal level, through a project and which I believe is enshrined here will help regulate our financial expenditures and controls towards fulfilling the objectives of fiscal responsibility and transparency”.

He commended the House of Assembly for speedy consideration and passage of the three bills, assuring to enforce compliance with the provisions of the laws.

Earlier, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Abubakar Sadiq Kurba said that the House had scrutinized the bills as sent by the Governor, expressing the belief that the legislation will be to the benefit of the people of the state.

Present at the signing ceremony were the Speaker, Hon. Abubakar Sadiq Kurba, Secretary to the State Government, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, Chief of Staff, Alhaji Abubakar Inuwa Kari, Commissioner of Finance and Economic Development, Muhammad Gambo Magaji, Clerk of the state House of Assembly, Hajiya Rukayya Adamu Jalo, Director General, Due Process Office, Baba Yola and Director, Treasury, Aminu Yuguda.