The House also resolved to investigate the state of medical research institutes in the country.
The House of Representatives has said it will investigate the daily increases in prices of commodities in the country which have become alarming.
The House also resolved to investigate the state of medical research institutes in the country.
The resolutions were taken at Thursday's plenary, following two separate motions by Jesess Okey-Joe Onuakalusi (LP, Lagos) on the need to awaken the Price Control Board of Nigeria to its constitutional responsibilities and Wale Hammed (APC, Lagos) on the need to fund medical research institutions to combat future unforeseen novel medical challenges.
Moving his motion, according to The Nation, Onuakalusi accused the Price Control Board of Nigeria of abandoning its responsibilities to the marketers, who are now responsible for increasing the prices of commodities with impunity and to the detriment of consumers.
Regretting the development, the lawmaker, decried that while prices of commodities have continued to increase on daily basis in our markets, salaries of Nigerian civil servants have not changed.
The Act establishing the Price Control Board, he said gave it the responsibility of overseeing and enforcing price control regulations and also established for each state, a committee to be the Price Control Committee to advise and assist the Board on the implementation of this Act.
He said efforts as stated in the law have not yielded any result as the Board has remained inactive.
Onuakalusi further stated that the responsibilities of the Price Control Board of Nigeria are to regulate the prices of all commodities in Nigeria and ensure that the marketers comply for the prices to be comparable with the income of the Nigerian civil servants.
He argued that this trend of leaving the prices of commodities at the marketer’s discretion is affecting mostly low-income earners and also increasing crime, as individuals unable to afford to purchase at an exorbitant price will resort to other means or steal.
He regretted that the Price Control Board of Nigeria did not take action to checkmate this menace of daily price increases.
In his motion, Wale Hammed said that due to the global increase in viral outbreaks like Lassa fever, Ebola, and coronavirus, it is crucial to increase financial support for medical research to combat health challenges.
According to Hammed, the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in Nigeria conducts research on public health diseases. Develops dissemination structures, and collaborates with national and international institutions.
He said there exist other research institutes in the country with similar objectives of collecting, analyzing, and providing scientific data and information for the development of scientific products for sustainable development and benefit for the country.
He said further that these institutions are not operating optimally, as they are currently underfunded, inadequately equipped with modern technology and lack requisite library resources to effectively perform their duties.
He argued that the Nigerian Medical Research Institutes had the potential to contribute to the nation’s medical advancement, given the required attention and funding.