Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
The member representing Ezza South/ Ikwo federal constituency of Ebonyi State in the House of Representatives, Chief Chinedu Ogah, has urged the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs to include Ebonyi State and the entire South East in the palliative packages against the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
The minister has been distributing relief materials including cash to people of the North and South-West to cushion the effect of the coronavirus on the people.
But Ogah who is the only APC federal lawmaker from Ebonyi State wondered why nobody from the state had received any of the packages from the federal government.
In a statement in Abakaliki, Ogah noted that the same problems the people in the North and South West were facing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic were being faced by Ebonyi people and wondered why the people were not captured in the palliative.
“Coronavirus is in every part of the country; the north, west and south. So, it is necessary for the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs to include people of South East in the cash and other items she is sharing to the people of the country as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. I suggest that every other part of the country that was not captured in the palliative measures including the South-East should be captured,” Ogah said.
The lawmaker called on the governors in the country to use the period of the coronavirus pandemic to make quality health care available and accessible to the people.
“This is a period for the governors to address challenges in the health sector by ensuring that the people access healthcare at their door steps. There is no other time than now.
“Let me tell you, some diseases like Lassa fever, Hepatitis B and C are even deadlier that this coronavirus that all attention are now focusing on. It is important that people access healthcare easily to prevent these diseases,” he said.
Ogah however, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the steps he has taken in curtailing the coronavirus pandemic in the country and urged the people to rally round him to stop the virus from further spreading to other parts of the country.