Ademola Adeshina
The Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has faulted the timing of the lockdown order by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying people should have been given a few days notice to prepare themselves for the eventualities of the lockdown.
President Buhari had, on Sunday night, ordered a total lockdown of Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states, as part of measures aimed at curbing the spread of the disease.
The group picked holes in the presidential broadcast, saying that the only new thing in the speech is the lockdown order.
According a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, the group noted that while it agreed that a lockdown is necessary at this point, it should not have been done as if a barrack is shutting down under 24 hours.
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Afenifere further noted that it is a big shame that a rich country like Nigeria has been badly run over the years and up till the time a lockdown order is issued, it cannot afford any serious stimulus package for its citizens.
According to the group, “We do not understand where the President was asking the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to go and get students to be feeding with School Feeding Programme when all students in the country are at home.”
“Despite the loopholes in the pronouncement, we encourage our people to cooperate with government to curtail the spread of this pandemic.”