The Nigerian Senate has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to address the nation over the deadly Coronavirus pandemic.
For the second time in less than one week, the Nigerian Senate returned to plenary worried about how to stop the spread of the deadly Coronavirus in the country with a resolution on Wednesday calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately address the nation on his administration action plan to contain the virus.
The Senate reached the resolution calling President Buhari to action following a motion by Senator Danjuma Goje representing Gombe South.
There have been a bit of anxiety over the seeming silence of President Buhari since Nigeria recorded its first case in February.
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The Senate’s call prompting Buhari to action came as the Federal Government took a number of drastic measures including the advice to place travel ban on 13 countries with high cases of Coronavirus.
The resolution of the upper legislative chamber also requested the President to immediately suspend his policy of issuenance of Visa-on-Arrival introduced late last year.
The Senate called for the suspension of airlines that travel to the affected countries and that Nigerians returning from those countries must be quarantined.
The Upper Legislative Chamber further accepted the need to establish “a Special Intervention Fund”, to tackle Coronavirus.
It recommended a meeting of the National Council of Health comprising the Minister of Health and all the State Commissioners of Health to come forward with a robust and harmonised response to the novel Coronavirus code named as COVID-19.
Before arriving at these resolutions, lawmakers deliberated extensively on Coronavirus.
In his contribution, Senator Thompson Sekibo (PDP River State) asked that the travel restrictions begin from inside the Senate when he said that lawmakers should not be allowed to travel outside the country.
Also Read: Nigeria bans 13 countries, stops Visa-On-Arrival over Coronavirus pandemic
Senator Sam Egwu(PDP Ebonyi North) agreed with Sekibo adding that lawmakers who travel should quarantine themselves for 2 weeks before returning to the chamber.
For the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmaneul Bwacha, Coronavirus was a disaster foretold in the 1515 prophesy of Nostradamus (the man who saw tommorow) and that it was time Nigerians moved closer to God.
According to Bwacha, Coronavirus will mean the end of the world economy.
In his response, Senator Ibrahim Hadijah cautioned strongly against “concorted misinformation”, about Coronavirus on the social media.
Nigeria has confirmed 5 new cases on Wednesday bringing the number to 8.
The Senate noted that more resources were needed for testing and isolation centres across the country.
Speaking, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan said it had become necessary for the Senate to work closely with the executive to make provision for the facilities.
He said a situation where there were no testing centres in the South-East and in the North was not acceptable.
