Lockdown Extension: PRP Calls on President Buhari to Call-off Lockdown
The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately call-off the ongoing lockdown in the interest of Nigerians.
In a statement issued by its National Chairman, Alhaji Falalu Bello, he stated that the strategy choice of the administration was alien to the socio-economic as well as environmental realities in Nigeria, adding that such facilities that would have made the strategy choice workable were either rudimentary or non-existent in Nigeria.
The party also observed that the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic was not just a health concern, but a multi-sectoral thing.
Noting that the lockdown strategy could rather become counter-productive as the Nigerian circumstances, in which housing transportation, feeding and other basic human need were in short supply, leading to congestions and herding of people in limited spaces and sharing limited resources.
It also pointed out the limited capacity of government to meet up with the demand for palliatives, considering the alleged suspicious nature of the database to be used for those who would qualify to benefit from government’s arrangement.
According to his statement which reads;
“First, the President appears not to understand and appreciate the futility and ineffectiveness of lockdowns as a panacea for the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in an economic and social environment such as ours.
“Nigeria COVID -19 response strategy with terms such as aggressive enforcement of total lockdown, flattening of the curve, contact tracing, self-isolation, etc, is a very good strategy on paper but has been drawn in total disregard to our environment and circumstances.
“Complete lockdown for example may be useful and effective in developed economies and societies as exist in Europe and North America. But in our own environment where infrastructure such as housing, public transportation, sanitation and water supply are at best rudimentary, a wholesale copy of the lockdown template as a strategy against the COVID-19 pandemic is as good as playing the ostrich.
“Self-Isolation as another example in most of our houses in our towns and cities where tens of families stay in a house with only a toilet and tap is neither possible nor practicable. The Covid-19 Strategy sold to our President and his Governors is alien to our circumstances, not practicable nor sustainable and should be urgently jettisoned.
“Secondly, the President’s statement betrays a complete failure to understand that the COVID-19 pandemic is not just a health emergency but more appropriately a multi-sectoral challenge, with grave implications and threats to not just the public health but the livelihoods of citizens.
“So, to depend, as the President says he is going to do, only on the advices of the “scientific advisers” for the determination of whether and when to lift the restrictions on movements, is to say the least, most ill-advised.
“As experts in similar climes as ours have argued, complete lockdowns in and by themselves cannot and will not solve the challenges that COVID-19 has unleashed.
“Indeed, the lockdowns themselves may even compound and worsen the incidence of both contagion and spread by, for instance, weakening the immune system through worsening malnutrition, the herding together of masses of people in congested residential spaces which is what you find in most of our cities and towns, and the overstretching of rudimentary health-care facilities and infrastructures.
“Thirdly, President Buhari’s Statement convinces us of the Government’s utter disregard and lack of appreciation of its own low executive capacity. For the President to talk and promise that the Administration is going to distribute lockdown palliatives to the most vulnerable, who largely live from day to day in the interstices of the informal sector of the economy, in the face of gross bungling of the government’s initial efforts in this direction, only goes to betray this disregard of existential realities.
“The Nigerian government [both Federal and States] lack the executive capacity to do these in a transparent and effective manner. To begin with, the database that will be used to determine who qualifies for such an intervention and support is just simply not there.
“Furthermore, the executive capacity to execute the distribution in an equitable, fair and even- handed manner has simply been shown not to exist. These have been seen in almost all the States that gave out palliatives to their citizens as well as the fairly-tale distribution of N20,000.00 each to 2.6million Nigerians in 4 days by the Federal Government which most people don’t believe”.
However, Alhaji Falalu suggested a couple of answers to sorting out the management of the COVID-19 response strategy, which it said would be more suiting to the Nigerian circumstances and its people.
In view of this, to allow for a more custom-designed Nigerian response, PRP suggested urgent and mass procurement of testing kits, investment into healthcare facilities and training on mass contacts tracing and provision of stimulus packages for the sectors of the economy that would be most hit by the outbreak.
His statement continues;
“Review the lockdown orders restricting movements with a view to relaxing them to allow citizens to go about earning their livelihoods in an orderly and supervised manner.
“Procure, subsidize and massively distribute face masks to the public and make the wearing of these compulsory in public spaces until the pandemic is over, urgently procure testing kits and make them widely available so that members of the community with individuals suspected of showing symptoms of the disease can have easy access for testing.
“Invest massively in the medical infrastructure and training for contact tracing of confirmed cases, their isolation and treatment, as well as the provision of protective gear for health workers, immediately prepare stimulus packages for sectors of the national economy which are going to be worst affected by the pandemic in the coming months, such as small-holder agriculture, small and medium enterprises, operators in the informal sectors of the economy and selected strategic industries.
“Reopening of the public services while maintaining social-distancing in the work-place and commercial operations, stop the wasteful if not fraudulent texting by NCDC reported to have cost the Government over a billion naira and divert such scarce resource to building the much required testing centres in and out of towns and cities.
“Immediately probe the fairy tale distribution of N20,000.00 each to 2.6 million Nigerians in 4 days as a means of confirming what happened and as important strengthening the distribution capacity of the Ministry of Humanitarian Services and Disaster Management before engaging them to handle further distribution of palliatives to the needy Nigerian population.
“Liminate police and military brutality coming from the enforcement of the lockdowns reported to have cost across the nation more harm than COVID-19 and resort to counselling and even fine as seen in the jurisdictions we have borrowed our Covid-19 strategy”, the statement said.
Aluta Media Award 2020: Bello emerges best Governor
The CEO Aluta Media Ltd. “Mallam Gambo Jagindi” and Publisher of Aluta News has awarded Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi State the best Governor in 2020.
According to Jagindi, the board of directors on the recommendation of chairman award committee has awarded Governor Yahaya Bello as the best Governor in year 2020
He explains that the governor was selected because of his visible achievement in the area of security, youth and women inclusiveness in governance thereby translating to lack of youth restiveness and improved security of lives and properties in the state.
Gistflash gathered that since the inception of Bello’s administration, security of lives and property, youth and women inclusiveness in governance had been his cardinal objective, saying it was an evidence of good governance and affirmed him as the best .
“Gov Bello has proven to have managerial ingenuity and also an outstanding governor,” Jagindi said.
The prestigious award conferment and decoration is slated to hold on February 2nd, 2021 in Lokoja, Kogi State.
2023 Presidency: Youth Support Group Gives Yahaya Bello 14 days Ultimatum to declear interest..
The coalition of youth support groups, under the name of “Governor Yahaya Bello to President Yahaya Bello’’ (GYB2PYB), has issued 14 days ultimatum to Governor Bello to declare intentions’ joining the 2023 presidential race or risk a nationwide protest
The group made their position known in a letter of invitation to contest 2023 presidential race submitted to Governor Bello at the Kogi State liaison office in Abuja on Friday
Ambassador Oladele Nihi Director General GYB2PYB said that Governor Bello has what it takes to provide purposeful leadership and good governance if elected as President in the 2023 General Elections.
“He will offer the right leadership, as he is interested in the good of Nigeria. The GYB2PYB Youth Movement is not a selfish Agenda, but an effort to project him, to market him, and to sell him to other Nigerians.
“We have searched the length and breadth of our country and found that Governor Yahaya Bello, a young man who has given women and young people the platform to be the drivers in their own affairs, will perform well if elected into the exalted office.
“The GYB (Gov. Yahaya Bello), style of leadership is what we need in this country, the leadership of a government of the young people by the young people and for the general wellbeing of all Nigerians.
“Over fifteen million Nigerian young men and women have signed a request letter to His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello, calling on him to accept to contest the position of the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023.
“We believe Governor Yahaya Bello to be a detribalized Nigerian. He will stamp out Nepotism from our country, and he will handle the intractable security problems of our country.
“Because he is a young man, he will engage the women and the young men in governance and make them critical stakeholders in the affairs of the country. We believe that he is a good brand that we can sell.
We urge Nigerian youths to take the message nationwide, that Governor Yahaya Bello will handle security; he will ensure Women and Youth Inclusiveness in governance, erase all forms of ethnic and religious bias and bring massive Foreign Direct Investments into the Country.
Right now, we need a leader that can hold our country together. We are saying that the person is Governor Yahaya Bello. I believe that the challenge is to have a good leader to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, who has tried his best. We should begin to identify somebody to take over from him and do a fantastic job.
We will make it impossible for GYB to say NO, because he holds it to Nigerians to participate in the election. It is a patriotic duty we are calling on him for. He is a man who believes in the progress and development of Nigeria, he has no choice than to accede to our request. He should come out and offer himself for the leadership of this country at this time. We are calling on him to serve. We are confident that he will come out and run for the presidency.
Recall that the group had sometime last year predicted that 2023 would be a youth political revolution year in Nigeria, saying it planned to build early structures among youth groups, to network towards possible and inevitable takeover of leadership.
The GYB2PYB, expressed regrets that Nigeria, with a population of more than 200 million people, 75 per cent of which were youth, said it was disheartening that less than one per cent of young Nigerians are currently included, appointed or elected into leadership positions in the country.
It said the group was set to change the narrative come 2023
“We decided to search for three qualities; a young person with capacity politically and financially, one who is already in the political system/power block and who has the track record of youth engagement and inclusion in governance, as well as appointments, requirements we found in Governor Bello,’’ it said in a statement.
Hon. Bar Medina Anako, Special adviser intergovernmental affairs and State focal person, Nigerians in diaspora Commission received the group on behalf of the Governor
Barrister Anako has assured the group that Governor Bello will surely respond to their letter of invitation asking him to join the race within the next 14 days as demanded!!
Armed Forces Remembrance Day; The Heroes of Our Land! “The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” —Douglas MacArthur.
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile”, opines Albert Einstein. Suffice it to say that the spirit cum the zeal to serve selflessly and pour out oneself profusely in service, for the good of “a neighbor” and betterment of the nation at large, is a worthwhile life. Such a life depicts a Patriot and a Nationalist.
Today, the 15th day of January has been dedicated as a day we remember and pay homage to the selfless and unquantifiable sacrifices our armed forces made and still make for us as individuals and for the nation at large. Today is a day to honour all those brave Men and Women who have served or are still serving their country with bravery, dedication and self-sacrifice.
Yes, they put up selfless sacrifices for us; keeping awake that we might sleep and giving their lives that we might not lose all the things we love. As we sleep peacefully on our beds, our “Gallant Men and Valiant Women” stand on guard, ready to give their lives for our freedom. They keep awake in the bush, in cold weather, on high sea, to make sure we sleep and snore peacefully. They are separated from their families and loved ones so we can be united with ours. They lay down their lives that we might live.
As a country, they give up themselves that we can be united and have our sovereignty upheld. According to Barrack Obama, “the soldier’s courage and sacrifice is full of glory, expressing devotion to country, to cause, to comrades in arms.” In all these their invaluable sacrifices, we need to appreciate them. We need to let them know that we are grateful. Buttressing this further, Harry S. Truman asserts; “our debt to the Heroic men and Valliant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. We will never forget their sacrifices.”
Yes, we should never forget their unflinching and unwavering loyalty and love for our beloved nation; we should never forget their unquantifiable sacrifices.
An epitaph on a soldier’s grave reads: I did my duty, I paid the supreme price, I pray you’ll remember, My sacrifice. My life was short, I did my best. God grant me peace, In my eternal rest.
What a heart-rending epitaph! Yes, they wish that we forget not their sacrifices. “The labours and sacrifices of our Heroes past shall never be in vain”! Let us remember to extend helping hands to their widows, widowers, bereaved siblings and orphaned children. They are in that condition today because their loved ones laid down their lives that we might enjoy the company of our own loved ones.
May God strengthen and bless all our military men, comfort the families of those who lost their lives for our sake and grant blissful rest to our departed Heroes. We are proud of you!!!
“A true Soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him”. G.K. Chesterton.
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