A former Deputy
National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Bode George, has chided
the Buhari administration over its feeding programme.
Last week, Sadiya
Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, announced that a total of
3,131,971 households are targeted for the Home Grown School Feeding Programme
(HGSFP)
In a statement on
Sunday, George condemned the handling of the policy.
“Pumping money into
school feeding programme while the schools are not open is a little absurd. It
is a redundant, unworkable palliative.
“In a nation where
there is no standard numbering of houses, how do you get the food to the
beneficiaries? This is more than laughable. It is tragic”, George lamented.
He called for the
provision of stimulus packages and palliatives to help Nigerians manage the
economic impact of coronavirus.
The politician,
however, noted that using the pandemic to play politics or stoke sectarian
animosity would not do the nation any good.
George said the
nation must unite to effectively battle the pandemic.
“We must never
reduce this obvious national challenge to partisan feud. This is beyond section
triumphalism or sectarian animosity. Let us act by coming together, by
discarding old divisions, and embracing a new nationalistic front.
“Let our leaders
rise in the true spirit of national vision and mobilise our people towards
rescue and redemption. This is indeed how nations are built and strengthened in
the times of great challenges.”
Noting that there
are no half measures, George said that the solution must be collective and
predicated in cultivated consensus.
He further called
for a coherent management of COVID-19 and advised the exploration of all
resources in the orthodox and traditional medical fields.
“In all fields,
there is a Nigerian with sterling talent that can rival anyone. Virologists,
epidemiologists, microbiologists, morbidity experts, homeostatic scholars and
others. Why are we not using them to mitigate, combat and destroy the COVID-19
malady?”, he queried.
George added that he
did not believe lockdowns would make the virus go away.
According to him,
only a coordinated strategic plan and framework of action could tame the
pandemic.
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com