Lockdown: Why President Buhari should include Private Sector in palliative – ADP

The Action Democratic Party (ADP), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to neglect the Private sector in sharing of palliative,  saying that they have larger number of employees. 

In a statement issued and made available to CAPITAL POST on Wednesday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prince Adelaja Adeoye, noted that it is commendable that, the President has highlighted the efforts of the government so far, however that, critical sector of the economy must not be forgotten in the provision of palliatives.

“We must prepare not only to contain the Corona Virus, but also consider the effect of the lockdown on the employers of Labour and their employees, who carries the largest workforce. 

“Some of them might resort into down sizing after the pandemic is over, because of how bad they may have been affected. 

“To avoid massive job cut, the government at both Federal and State level should work out some relief for these employers, in form of supports”, Adelaja noted. 

He stressed further that, these employeers, have their tax records with the goverment, arguing that this is the time they needed goverment supports the most, as there is a projection that, economy might plundered, which will affect many of them, especially the entrepreneurs and small scale businesses. 

ADP also noted that, while it is appreciated that President Buhari has increased the social benefits from 2.6 million households to 3.6 million, which shows an addition of 1 million households, there must be transparency and accountability in the process of making these funds available to the beneficiaries, so that the real vulnerable Nigerians will benefit and their palliatives will not be shared amongst politicians and their followers only.

The party, however called the attention of President Buhari, Governor Babajide Sanwoolu and Prince Dapo Abiodun to another worrisome development across Nigeria, especially in Lagos and Ogun State, where citizens now finds it very hard to sleep at night, due to the increasing rates of gang robberies, attacks and all forms of criminalities under the guise of lockdown.

ADP said, Nigerians who are enduring the pain of lockdown, while millions of them struggles to feed their children, are now facing serious threat from gangs, and armed robbers who operates in large numbers with so much audacity and gut in Lagos and Ogun State, calling on the President to give the development a serious attention.

“We noticed that Mr. President did not mention the rising cases of attacks against Nigerians during this lockdown, specifically in Lagos and Ogun State, while making his nationwide broadcast on Monday evening, it is a very serious matter, as many residents has been calling for help on social media, while many of the videos online are very disturbing, when these assailants invade their neighborhoods. 

“We are of the opinion that, security forces should not only enforce the stay at home order, but must respond swiftly to any security threat experienced by all Nigerians are this time.

ADP called on Nigerians to remain hopeful, and cooperate with all the government agencies and departments in charge of Corona Virus, such as National Center for Disease Control (NCDC).