Fred Itua, Abuja
The Minority Caucus of the Senate, yesterday, disagreed with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on President Muhammadu Buhari’s speech on COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead, the caucus commended the Federal Government’s approach to combat the ravaging COVID-19 as contained in President Buhari’s Sunday evening national broadcast to Nigerians.
In a statement released in Abuja by the Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, the caucus said though they had expected the presidency to engage the National Assembly more in some of the policy areas that are statutory, they have to recognise the fact that these are unusual times that may require quick policy responses.
“These are perilous times in the world and indeed an unusual situation for our dear country, so the PDP caucus described as a step in the right direction the President’s broadcast and policy measures, which we believe while being short on prioritizing the poor and vulnerable in our society , nevertheless if properly implemented will keep our people safe from this deadly virus,” he said.
Abaribe assured that the caucus is ready to work and engage in a bipartisan manner with the presidency and is even ready to reconvene should the need arise to insure that the country ward off the Covid-19 virus, which has kept the entire world on it’s toes.
However, the caucus asked for a proper monitoring of the disbursement of the palliative measures to ensure that it gets to the people they’re meant for and also urged humane approach by the relevant security agencies while strictly implementing the measures that has to do with the restrictions of movement of our people.
“The security agencies should bear in mind that these are unusual times and first of it’s kind that Nigerians will be asked to stay mostly at home and maintain social distance. As such the approach should be more of humane engagement rather than the application of force,” Abaribe added.
Nonetheless, the PDP caucus according to Abaribe, advised Nigerians to adhere strictly to the federal government directives and other containment measures rolled out by the National Center for Desease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) adding that doing so, would certainly put the ravaging virus at bay.
“It could be tough, but the measures are necessary now if we must survive this deadly scourge and emerge stronger after,“ Abaribe added.