What Buhari should do to tackle Coronavirus – Atiku

Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general election, has advised the federal government on how best to tackle Coronavirus which has found its way into country.

The zoonotic disease was brought into the country by an Italian working in the country, although it originated from China earlier in the year.

At the moment, the disease has no known cure and how it came into existence is still being investigated.

Advising the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the former vice president said all that was needed is unity and not casting blame.

In a statement on Friday, the PDP chieftain also urged the government to temporarily halt flights to and from any nation affected by the disease.

The press release is reproduced below:

Now that Nigeria has had her first confirmed case of the Corona Virus infestation, via a citizen of Italy, who visited Lagos and Ogun states, I would want to offer my patriotic counsel to the government of General Muhammadu Buhari, on how best to tackle this issue.

We must call upon our experience with the Wild Ebola Virus, of which we were the first nation in the world to defeat that scourge in 2014. How did Nigeria do it? We achieved it 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.

I strongly counsel that any tendency to blame and point fingers must be temporarily, if not permanently, suspended. If fingers must be pointed, it must be to solutions.

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.

But above all, Nigeria must not panic. Whether at government or individual levels. We have defeated Ebola before, and we can defeat this present predicament.

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.

God bless Nigeria and her people.