Fred Itua, Abuja
Christian leaders have queried the management style of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in handling the outbreak and spread of the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19).
They have also questioned the silence of Muslim groups and leaders since the outbreak of the virus. They urged them to come and support financially like Christians are doing.
The Christian leaders who are members the Christians Right Agenda (CRA), in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, urged President to go back to the drawing board and come up with a clear response strategy to the outbreak.
Interim Director of Publicity of the body, Mr. Tom Chiahemen, said: In the last couple of days, we have viewed with concern developments surrounding the management of COVID-19 and matters arising therefrom.
“It is disheartening that after weeks of intense agitation, President Mohammadu Buhari, made a national broadcast that has attracted mixed feelings among the Nigerian populace.
“It is curious that more than 72 hours after the long-awaited national broadcast, majority of Nigerians are still to come to terms with most of the policy statements that did not seem to be well thought out.
“For instance, up till this moment, neither the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs nor the entire COVID-19 management committee has shown a clear direction on who constitutes the ‘poor and vulnerable’ in our society.
“Again, Mr. President’s directive on school feeding program is rather confusing, especially when viewed against the backdrop of the current closure of all schools across the country. CRA wonders which school feeding program Mr. President was referring to, or if that was an important issue in the face of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic???
“It is a well considered view of CRA that all religious groups must rise to the occasion and emulate the Christian Church at this critical period.
“Specifically, such religious groups as MURIC, JNI , the Izala, etc, should come out at this point to show the love that all religions of the world preach. We challenge them to draw a line between humanity and politics
“President Muhammadu Buhari and his team should go back to the drawing board to think out better strategies for handling the pandemic.
“As much as human isolation appears to be the best way yet to curtail the spread of the virus , lack of a well defined policy to ameliorate the attendant challenge of isolation can lead to greater problems. This is because alot of Nigerians live by daily earnings
“Government should, as a matter of urgency, make test kits available to every Nigerian because there is no other way of knowing those infected. Government’s decision to lockdown Abuja, Lagos and Ogun state, as worse hit , is too simplistic if test kits are only available to politicians and celebrities.
“The National Assembly should, as a matter of urgency, invoke the doctrine of neccesity, and resume sitting. The parliaments of other nations didn’t close shop.”