Gbenro Adesina
A three-term member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ajibola Muraina has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to include Oyo State in whatever measures that is being taken by the Federal Government to curtail the spread of coronavirus in the country.
Muraina, who stated this today in Ibadan warned the Federal Government not to play politics with the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria, stressing that no state in the country should be exempted from the priority list of the Federal Government in measures that would stop the spread of the virus.
The federal legislator wondered why the President failed to mention Oyo State in his state broadcast, which has the third highest incidence of Covid-19 in the country after Lagos and Abuja or extend any of the measures put in place to check the spread of the disease.
The lawmaker stated that the exemption of Oyo State and a few others where there have been confirmed cases of Covid-19 from the measures being taken to address the situation could mean harm for their fights against the virus.
He noted that though Governor Seyi Makinde has been doing a good job in handling the crisis, the Federal Government must do its part in assisting other states that have recorded confirmed cases of coronavirus.
He added that the perceived lackadaisical attitude of the Federal Government towards Oyo State in the handling of Covid-19 crisis has already reflected in the incapacitation of the University College Hospital (UCH), a federal hospital, to handle the crisis until the Oyo State government funded a Diagnostic Centre in the hospital.
He said: “Last Sunday’s national broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari could not have come at a better time than it did, after widespread criticisms on the President’s handling of the Covid-19 situation. In the broadcast, the President highlighted some of the measures the Federal Government has put in place and those that will still come on stream as the nation continues to seek ways to overcome the ongoing health crisis.
“It is, however, pertinent to mention that the President’s broadcast, through an error of commission and omission, left out Oyo State and a few others where there are confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the measures being put in place to check the spread of the virus, despite the fact that Oyo State has the third highest number of Covid-19 incidences in the country.
“By omitting the name of Oyo State and, indeed, a few others where the confirmed cases of Covid-19 exist from the first donation, not only has the Federal Government left the states to hold their own in the face of the Covid-19 challenges, it has also made donors look away from them.
“While I would want to give the President the benefit of the doubt by agreeing that Oyo State and others were inadvertently omitted in the national broadcast, it is imperative that the Federal Government takes steps to correct the omission and immediately retrospectively include them in all plans put in place to fight the spread of the virus in Lagos and Ogun states.
“As the President would have known, the UCH, which is supposed to the flagship of hospitals in the country has had to write an SOS letter to whom it may concern, seeking funding for facilities to handle the Covid-19. This, in itself, is an indictment on the Federal Government.
“But for the intervention of the Oyo State government, which collaborated the setting up of a Diagnostic Laboratory for Covid-19, the burden of sample testing for any suspected case in Oyo State would still have been on the over-pressurised centres in Lagos.
“While it must be noted at this point that the efforts of the Governor Makinde administration have been tremendous, with the on-going massive sensitisation campaign and precautionary measures put in place by the government as well as the setting up of well-equipped isolation centres in Ibadan and Ogbomoso, the Federal Government should not shirk in its responsibilities to the people of Oyo State.”
