Nigeria Govt Not Transparent In COVID-19 Fight — Fmr Minister, Ogunkelu

President Muhammadu Buhari on 27 of April ordered the gradual easing of lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic in two states, Lagos and Ogun and the federal capital territory, Abuja.

The decision to relax the lockdown, on the one hand, is due to the economic crunch and financial strait that the lockdown has thrown many into, and on the other hand the inability of the government to put in place a comprehensive and all-encompassing social intervention program and palliatives.

For days on end, intellectuals and laymen have argued back and forth over the niceties of president Muhammadu Buhari decision to succumb to the importunate demand of larger percentage of the citizenry to have the lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic outrightly lifted or modified.

In a tete-a-tete conversation with our correspondent, Dr Abimbola Ogunkelu, former minister of cooperation and integration, shared his thoughts and opinions on the government decision to ease the lockdown and what the government should do in other to consolidate its fight against the pandemic.

The Lagos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftain said the government was not forthcoming and honest about the situation of things in the fight against COVID-19.

He averred that it was not enough for the government to inundate the citizenry with the number of cases recorded on a daily basis, adding that churning out a number of new cases was not an indication of the government preparedness and foresight in battling the scourge.

The PDP Stalwart noted that it behooves the government to apprise the citizens of the framework put in place to contain and overcome the pandemic

“The government is only informing the public on the numbers of cases recorded every day and the patient’s discharged, this does not justify government proactiveness in fighting this pandemic. The government is to notify her citizens on the apparatus put in place to tackle this virus and make open steps taken to contain this pandemic” He said

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On the relaxation of the lockdown by President Buhari, Ogunkelu commended the president describing the decision as ‘a step in the right direction’.

Ogunkelu pitched his tent with those who felt the lockdown should be relaxed since the government did not have the wherewithal to cater to the growing financial and social needs of largely impoverish citizens.

“I consider it the right step in the right direction because the citizens are hungry and they need to source for a living when the government failed to do the needful.

“Therefore, government relaxing the lockdown is to relief the masses from hunger pandemic and for them to source for their livelihood, ” he said.

The former minister maintained that the relief package and stimulus claimed to be distributed by the government was mired in political intrigues and fraught with irregularity and partiality, noting that the distribution of the palliatives was skewed in favour of a particular region

On funds donated to the government to aid the Covid-19, Ogunkelu bemoans the lack of transparency on the part of the government, He expressed displeasure at the handling of the fund, adding that the details of the donations are public knowledge.

He berated the government over the strings of fire that broke out at major government agency, insinuating that such unsettling occurrence was part of government’s ploy to evade public scrutiny on how the funds were expended.

He explained that such happenings erode the faith of the people in the government.

“But, It is unfortunate that the government is not utilizing the fund for the right course.

“Sometimes ago, we heard about an incident of inferno in the office of the accountant general of the federation which billions of naira was claimed to have been lost in the fire incident, all this escapade are uncalled for, the government needs to be open to its citizens.

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“The development will call for citizens cooperating with the government once given a directive, but, in the case where the government is not open, the citizens take there own decision for survival, ” he said.

Ogunkelu harped on the need for the government to be open and forthright in the fight against the pandemic, adding that the lockdown relaxation would not have materialised, If transparency was the order of the day.

“Because, this is the period that the pandemic is accelerating gradually, hence, the need for a lockdown, but, in a situation where the masses are hungry, and the pressure on the relaxation is much on the government.

“In the absence of no alternatives, the government will relax the lockdown for the citizens to find there daily means of survival, but If the government provides all the necessary palliative’s to the citizens, in terms of food relief, cash, kits, and others, her citizens will not have any cause to go out to source for food or money to fed the family, ” he said.

By Idris-Tele Olukoya