Atiku Reveals What Nigeria Needs As Coronavirus Hits The Nation

Former Vice President and PDP chieftain, Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the news that a man has tested positive to the coronavirus in Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial city.

Recall Naija News previously reported the Federal Ministry of Health on Friday morning, confirmed the first case of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Lagos, Nigeria.

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, confirmed the case in a statement issued in the early hours of Friday, February 28, 2020, saying that the case involves an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and just returned from Milan, Italy on the 25th of February 2020.

Reacting to the development in a personally signed statement on Friday, Atiku said what Nigeria needs at a time like this is unity and national resolve just like the time of ebola virus.

“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 Major 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,” Atiku said.

He urged that all forms of differences must be put aside and all hands must be on deck to combat the disease.

“I strongly counsel that any tendency to blame and point fighters 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.”

He said the citizens and residents of Nigeria need not panic as it has what it needs to effectively battle and overcome the disease.

“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 own dear fatherland, which we must work together to keep healthy and secure.”