The lawmaker representing Ogo-Oluwa/Surulere federal constituency, Hon. Olusegun Odebunmi, has revealed that Governor Seyi Makinde is not handling COVID-19 like seriously.
This is just as he said nobody has benefitted from the federal government cash transfer programme in his federal constituency.
Bunvic, as the third-term member of the house of representatives is popularly known, disclosed this on Monday morning during a live call-in interview on Ibadan-based radio station, Fresh FM, monitored by OYOINSIGHT.COM.
He said, “Personally, I am not really satisfied with the way the coronavirus programme is being handled in Oyo State. It’s like the governor is handling this situation as if this pandemic is not a serious matter.
“Unfortunately, he was one of the victims and the key persons who are supposed to be the stakeholders in sensitizing people and taking care of people like the CMD of UCH also fell victim.”
He then called on the state government to take the fight against COVID-19 seriously because even powerful nations that believe in their capacity and ability to handle any health challenge have, unfortunately, failed.
Adding that, “the best way to protect the nation is to stop the spreading of this virus,” the lawmaker, who is chairs the house committee on information, also faulted the failure of the governor to lockdown the state to prevent the spread of the virus but commended the governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, for being proactive by ensuring the returnees from Abidjan were quarantined and tested immediately.
When questioned about whether the governor did not lockdown the state because neighboring states are already on lockdown, he said, “We should not depend on other states’ way of preventing it, we should have our own state programme of preventing the spread of the virus because it you can stop the spread, that’s the only solution.”
He noted that he can’t call for lockdown at the moment anymore because some states have been on lockdown for weeks and that means Oyo State will be extending the lockdown days.
He, however, added that if the number of cases should increase, the state will have no choice but to embrace a total lockdown.
Condemning the poor handling of the conditional cash transfer policy initiated by the FG for the poorest of the poor Nigerians across the thirty-six 36)l states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Bunvic questioned the criteria adopted by the handlers of the policy to arrive at the data generated to identify who the poorest of the poor are in all the communities that formed a local government area.
He disclosed that not a single person has benefited from the policy in his federal constituency.
He frowned at the manner the disbursement of the cash is being conducted, citing an example where he watched how Nigerians were asked to queue before they could collect the money in the FCT and was broadcast on a Television station. He described such act as barbaric, illogical and national disgrace.
He also explained why the National Orientation Agency, NOA, has not been performing optimally due to paucity of fund and low budget allocation to the agency that has offices in each state to perform creditably when its running cost is below a hundred million naira annually.
