Declare Mass COVID-19 Testing; End Lockdown – APC Chieftain Tells Buhari

The Federal Government has been told to conduct mass Corona virus test on every Nigerian to ascertain the number of positive cases in the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari was also told to end the lockdown so life can gradually return to normal.

Hon. Bello Bina, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Chairman of Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, gave the charge during a live interview with NAIJA LIVE TV correspondent, Adewumi Samuel Ayomikun in Yenagoa.

Bello said the continuous lockdown of the nation will have devastating effect on the economy as well as visit hunger and starvation upon the people.

Using the conduct of election in the country by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as an analogy, the former Brass Council chairman said “Let INEC represent the health sector while the Nigerian citizens should be seen as the voters. Since we can vote for public office seekers at our various polling units in just one day, let us in the same vein conduct compulsory Covid-19 testing for every Nigerian. After finalising the testing, those who tested positive should be taken to isolation centres. This should be finalised in three days and the country should be thrown open for businesses to thrive again”.

According to Bello, “the lockdown is being imposed simply because the elites of the society, particularly the political class, are the main victims of the dreaded Corona virus”.

“If the disease were more common among the poor, would the government have introduced any lockdown”, he asked rhetorically.

Bello further said “As things stand now, while the rich are scared of the Corona virus, the poor have a morbid fear for hunger virus, which they claim will kill them before the dreaded virus”, adding that “petty traders, artisans and such other group of workers whose source of livelihood is dependent on their daily earnings are the ones suffering the brunt of the lockdown because the said lockdown has prevented them from going to work to earn their daily bread and the much talked about palliatives, either in the form of food ration or conditional cash transfer, is not getting to them”.

Hinting that the country may be headed for economic recession especially with the current oil price, if the lockdown is not lifted fast, Bello said “Look at the price of oil, which is the mainstay of our economy; we the Niger Deltans who produce the oil do not benefit from our resources”.

Continuing, he said “look at the lockdown, everybody is suffering, there is no money anywhere. We in Bayelsa have the Minister of State for Petroleum but have nothing to show for it. If the Minister had empowered some persons, those persons can be looked upon at this difficult times to provide palliatives for the poorest of the poor among us but right now there is no such thing”.

Enumerating some of the socio-economic effects of the lockdown, he said as a means of trying to survive, people are producing a lot of fake items like face mask and selling them along traffic in places like Lagos.

He used the medium to take a swipe at corrupt government officials in the country, pointing out that the inferno that engulfed the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Abuja recently was remotely connected to certain Social Investment Programme (SIP) documents that are said to be in the A-G’s office.

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