The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)is appalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, in his Monday’s COVID-19 address, again, failed to offer decisive solutions to protect Nigerians from the deadly pandemic.

The party also expressed disappointment that President Buhari did not offer any post lockdown stimulus to assist Nigerians in the private sector whose businesses had been crippled by the lockdown and are now faced with the burden of workers’ salaries and business refinancing.

The PDP lamented that apart from the elementary lockdown and failed palliative showboating, President Buhari did not offer a decisive solution regarding the production of drugs, testing kits and management of equipment to safeguard Nigerians, despite the huge resources at the disposal of his administration.

The party further described as saddening that President Buhari did not address the demands by Nigerians to end his administration’s political parochialism and engage competent hands, including indigenous researchers, equipment manufacturers, pharmaceutical, medical as well as virology experts to infuse home grown therapeutic solutions in the overall effort.

The party insists that had President Buhari heeded this demand by Nigerians at the onset of the pandemic, the situation would not have escalated to this frightening level with no solutions in sight.

The PDP also finds it difficult to reconcile President Buhari’s assurances of adequate test kits with the disposition of the NCDC which declared that it is desperately in shortage of test kits and other medical equipment to combat the scourge.

Our party invites Nigerians to observe how countries like Senegal had effectively mobilized their indigenous medical researchers and manufacturers to produce low cost quick testing kits as well as ventilators while investing massively in the production of drugs for treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Moreover, the PDP has completely lost faith in the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, which is technically bogged down under the coordination of individuals that have not demonstrated required experience & proficiency to manage a serious pandemic like COVID-19.
The PDP demands an immediate reorganization of the PTF to eliminate political underlining and vest the responsibility on known experts to galvanize our public and private institutions for solutions.

Furthermore, President Buhari should immediately rally efforts within the public and private sectors to provide post lockdown stimulus for the private sector while eliminating corruption to ensure the distribution of palliatives to target vulnerable citizens.

It is also worrisome that President Buhari failed to address the corruption in the administration of palliatives as well as the position of his government on the handling of donations and the spending template of other COVID-19 related funds.

Nigerians should continue to strictly adhere to health safety measures of social distancing, personal hygiene and avoiding of large gatherings until the pandemic is over.