The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Wednesday, (January 13) demanded the immediate dissolution of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 for alleged incompetence.
The party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the PTF had not demonstrated any capacity in handling the pandemic beyond the announcement of infections and associated fatalities.
The party called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately dissolve the PTF umder the leadership of Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and put in place a team of experts under the control of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to professionally tackle the pandemic.
The PDP statement read: “More distressing is that the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has not demonstrated any capacity beyond the mere announcement of figures of infected persons, deaths, recoveries, discharges, and issues of local protocols rather than engaging in epidemiology, researches, and production of equipment, drugs, therapeutics and other medical palliatives that can help stave off the impact of the global pandemic.
“On account of this, the PDP restates our demands for the dissolution of the PTF and in its place allow a convergence of experts in a special department under the purview of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) to professionally tackle the pandemic.”
PDP said the Federal Government had failed to demonstrate efficiency in handling the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
On the budgetary provisions for the pandemic, the statement declared: “The PDP is shocked that the Buhari administration did not make any budgetary provision in the 2021 Appropriation Bill for the acquisition of essential therapeutics, including vaccines, even in the face of the heightened anxieties over the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in our nation.
“It is indeed the height of leadership failure that the Federal Government has not been able to take a decision on the type and quantity of vaccines expected as well as ancillary facilities and associated logistics.
“The PDP is however not surprised at such governance indolence and confusion as the current system under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch is plagued by endemic corruption, mediocrity, incompetence, and laissez-faire attitude to issues that have to do with the well-being of Nigerians.
“Our party rejects the use of the COVID-19 pandemic as a corruption drainpipe for All Progressives Congress leaders and their cronies in government circles.” (theconclaveng)
