
By JACOB KUBEKA, Abuja –
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has commended President Muhamadu Buhari for the outline of measures he announced on Sunday to be taken by the federal government in the face of the global pandemic known as corornavirus.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Emmanuel Yawe, ACF acknowledged that the various regulations intended to maintain the principle of social distance might sound harsh especially to residents of Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states. It however called on the residents of these places to “obey the instructions of the federal government more so when there is no alternative in the form of treatment yet discovered for the ailment.”
The Forum also commended the efforts of the Nigerian Private Sector Coalition which organized a successful launching against COVID -19 during which billions of Naira was raised to support the war against coronavirus.
According to Mr. Yawe, “we in the Forum believe that as commendable as the efforts of the organized private sector are, there is need to track the money so far raised because similar funds raised by noble minded people to fight equally noble causes in our country have on several occasions been subjected to criminal abuse to the amazement of all patriots.”
“The Forum believes that the funds should be applied mainly for developing the required infrastructure in which Nigeria is solely deficient and without which we cannot have the capacity to fight the pandemic.
“The Forum believes that coronavirus is global pandemic and calls on all Nigerians to see it so. Nigerians should not read local ethnic, political or religious meanings into its emergence,” he added.