The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has described the two weeks extension of the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun States as tough, but “the right way to go”.
A statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday night by Mr Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, Head, Media and Public Affairs of the NGF Secretariat, quoted Fayemi as saying this during his teleconference meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Fayemi, according to the statement, said that Buhari’s address to the nation on Monday captured the mood of the country and showed that his administration was in touch with the plight of the common man.
“The NGF Chairman also told the president that while the targeted testing strategy adopted by the country had done a lot, there was a need to increase the testing numbers.
“The NGF Chairman added that the Governors were desirous of having some more testing facilities to deepen the gains already made by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)”.
Fayemi, however, urged Buhari to instruct the relevant authorities to use the machineries of the state governments for distribution of palliatives so that it would penetrate all nooks and crannies of the country.
He added that the palliatives would be more meaningful if they were distributed through the state governors.
Fayemi also said that states were going through rough times and would like to appeal to the president to take certain decisive actions to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians.
He said that all the 36 States’ Governments were currently reviewing their budgets downwards to conform with the prevailing realities.
