Coronavirus: Halt Flights To And From Nigeria, Atiku Tells Buhari
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to stop all flights to and from Nigeria.
This according to Atiku is perhaps one of the decisive ways of tackling the coronavirus threat.
In a statement via Facebook, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last election said the nation must call upon its experience with the Wild Ebola Virus, of which Nigeria was the first nation in the world to defeat that scourge in 2014.
According to the former vice president, Nigeria achieved the feat against Ebola by showing unprecedented unity.
“The federal government of the day worked closely with the Lagos and Rivers state governments. There was complete unity, solidarity, and oneness of purpose, which created the atmosphere that defeated that deadly infestation,” Atiku stated.
He strongly counseled that any tendency to blame and point fighters must be temporary, if not permanently, suspended. Adding that if fingers must be pointed, it must be to solutions.
In his communique which was geared towrads offering his patriotic counsel to President Buhari’s government, on how best to tackle this issue, Atiku noted that Nigeria needs firm and decisive actions to prevent an escalation of the scourge.
“Recently, we closed our borders as an act against economic sabotage. Perhaps now is the time to temporarily halt flights to and from any nation with a prevalence of this scourge. It is more important to secure human lives than to secure an economy. We also need to invest in early detection facilities at our airports,” Atiku opined.
He, however, noted that above all, Nigeria must not panic whether at government or individual levels. Stressing that “we have defeated Ebola before, and we can defeat this present predicament”.
As far as Atiku is concerned, this crisis is an opportunity to show that “we are first and foremost Nigerians and that we have no other country but our dear fatherland, which we must work together to keep healthy and secure”.