The
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has chided the President Muhammadu Buhari-led
government over what it described as “manifest lack of commitment and
proactiveness” to check the spate of the second wave of COVID-19 and the
accompanying deaths across the country.
PDP
in a statement issued by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan on Wednesday said it was “unpardonable that
the lives of our compatriots are increasingly becoming endangered, as
citizens’, including prominent Nigerians’ deaths are daily being announced as a
result of COVID-19, while the Buhari administration has remained lethargic with
no concrete commitment for solution.”
“The
PDP is shocked that the Buhari administration did not make any budgetary
provision in the 2021 appropriation for the acquisition of essential
therapeutics, including vaccines, even in the face of the heightened anxieties
over the second wave of the pandemic in our nation.
“It
is indeed the height of leadership failure that the federal government has not
been able to take a decision on the type and quantity of vaccines expected as
well as ancillary facilities and associated logistics.
“The
PDP is however not surprised at such governance indolence and confusion as the
current system under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch is plagued by endemic
corruption, mediocrity, incompetence and laissez-faire attitude to issues that
have to do with the wellbeing of Nigerians.
“It
is on record that the lethargic attitude, for which the Buhari administration
has become known, also encouraged the reported diversion of COVID-19 funds and
palliatives meant to cushion the effect of the pandemic, leaving Nigerians to
survive the last horrendous situation through self-help.
“More
distressing is that the Presidential Task Force, PTF, on COVID-19 has not demonstrated
any capacity beyond mere announcement of figures of infected persons, deaths,
recoveries, discharges and issues of local protocols rather than engaging in
epidemiology, researches and production of equipment, drugs, therapeutics and
other medical palliatives that can help stave off the impact of the global
pandemic.
“On
account of this, the PDP restates our demands for the dissolution of the PTF
and in its place allow a convergence of experts in a special department under
the purview of the National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, to professionally
tackle the pandemic.
“Furthermore,
our party rejects the use of the pandemic as corruption drainpipe for All
Progressives Congress, APC, leaders and their cronies in government circles.
“Also,
rather than allowing the Minister of Disaster Management and Humanitarian
Affairs to carry bundles of cash to the streets, under the guise of palliative
measures, as was recorded during the first wave, the PDP demands that the
federal government should channel such resources directly to the respective
state governments to cushion the possible effects of the pandemic on the
people.”
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Disclaimer: Comment expressed do not reflect the opinion of African Parliamentary News