The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to provide food items and relief materials for the people of Ogun, Lagos and Abuja before locking down the states against Coronavirus.
NANS said the total lockdown of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Ogun States without adequate provisions for the people is “the highest form of Federal Government’s insensitivity to the plights of Nigerians.”
In a statement made available to DAILY POST on Monday by its National Spokesman, Azeez Adeyemi, the student body called on President Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, put measures in place to cushion the effects of the lockdown on the people of the affected areas.
Recall that President Buhari, on Sunday announced a total lockdown of the FCT, Lagos and Ogun States for 14 days, to stop the spread of the dreaded Coronavirus.
Though NANS commended the Federal Government on the move, it, however, strongly opined that “It is not enough for the government to order the people to stay at home without providing them means of survival.”
Adeyemi told the government to wake up to its duty of providing adequate welfare for the people, saying that the refusal to provide basics, such as food and stipends to alleviate the sufferings of the people, even as they remain in their homes, was an attestation to government’s “insensitivity to the plights of the people.”
Aside from food items and stipends, NANS advised the Federal Government to “immediately provide protective gear such as hand gloves, nose covers, hand sanitizers to all Nigerians to allow them protect themselves from contracting the virus.”
Adeyemi averred that “The failure of the government to provide these things to the people will not only contribute to the spread of the virus but also truncate and render futile the efforts and measures the government is putting in place to prevent Covid-19.”
The Nigerian student’s body stressed that “an average Nigerian, even while working can hardly provide for himself and his family talk more of asking him to stay at home for the next 14 days without adequate provision of necessities.”
In his advice, Adeyemi wants the Federal Government to borrow a leaf from countries like the US, China, UK, and Italy and also show more concern for the lives of the people.
