Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Lockdown: Use $311M returned loot to pay Nigerians, Kalu urges FG

By Adelowo Adebumiti
06 May 2020   |   10:53 am
The Director-General of Global Initiative for Good Governance, Dr Emeka Kalu has condemned what he termed as the miscalculated relaxation of lockdown by the Federal Government against COVID-19, saying the decision would have possible side effects on the country.

The Director-General of Global Initiative for Good Governance, Dr Emeka Kalu has condemned what he termed as the miscalculated relaxation of lockdown by the Federal Government against COVID-19, saying the decision would have possible side effects on the country.

In a statement signed by his media and publicity aide, Comr. Amos Kalu, the Publicity Secretary, People’s Democratic Party Youth Alliance (PDPYA) and Atikulated Agenda Worldwide said the decision of the administration was ill-time, miscalculated and a sign that the lockdown was not aimed at achieving anything.

He said the government’s decision to lock down the country was a bandwagon move, noting that the relaxation of the stay-at-home order was because the administration is out of ideas.

“It is most painful that the political brouhaha that this administration built around Coronavirus pandemic from day one has made the ordinary masses to doubt the existence of such thing and believe the government are just looking for an avenue to make money from United Nations,” he said.

Kalu claimed this is the scenario people get when power is in hands of few greedy men that think only about themselves and their immediate families.

“I don’t believe the majority of Nigerians truly know what it is, or what we are dealing with.

“Given the numbers of folks in some videos making rounds on social media is worrisome because it is clear that most people still see Coronavirus as a myth of the legends in the western world. That is very unprecedented and this is as a result of the inaction of the men in charge.

“Observe the number that attended the Emirs funerals without observing any social distancing, no masks, nothing.

“Examine the number that crisscross Onitsha Bridge, the number of folks in Alaba market Lagos, who are observing no social distancing, no mask and you will agree with me that we have set a time bomb that may soon explode in Nigeria if nothing is done and on time too,” he said.

Kalu lamented that there’s nothing on ground to show that the nation has the capability and capacity to handle any surge that may emanate from people not keeping to these rules.

“Do we have enough isolation centres or medical manpower to control spread among 200 million citizens when we can’t manage the rare cases properly? This case is so worrisome, to say the least.

“I understand that the economy is going down, but because of the fact that people don’t really have enough education about this, I submit that we shouldn’t have relaxed the lockdown immediately.

“A government with the right ideas would have made provisions to pacify citizenry by providing workable palliative measures for sustenance because the people have to survive first before we talk about the economy,” Kalu said.

According to him, if the country has a surge occasioned by the miscalculated action of opening up without preparedness, then the lockdown exercise would’ve been a time wasted in vain.

He said: “Let the Federal Government lockdown the nation completely and use the $311 Million dollars returned by the United States to pay every Nigerians as palliative so that no one should leave their homes. Also, palliatives should be shared before lockdown so that people can stock food and Medicine.

“We should’ve had more testing for the people before opening up the economy.”

0 Comments