Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, said on Sunday that the greatest tributes the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), could pay to the 19 deceased victims of COVID-19 in Nigeria, including his former Chief of Staff, the late Abba Kyari, who died on Friday, was for governments at all levels to fix public hospitals.
Falana, who said this in a statement, also attributed the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to official hypocrisy, impunity and lack of coordination between the federal and state governments in the efforts to fight the spread of the pandemic in Nigeria.
Speaking on the urgent need for public hospitals to be fixed, Falana said the treatment of British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, for COVID-19 in a public hospital in London should be “a sober lesson” for government officials “who usually spend public funds on medical treatment in foreign medical centres.”
He said, “From the foregoing, it is indisputable that there is an obvious lack of a coherent COVID-19 policy. This puts to question dangerously the seriousness of the Federal Government in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
“No doubt, President Buhari has paid glowing tribute to the late Mr. Abba Kyari. But the greatest tribute that can be paid to the deceased and the other 18 citizens that have lost their precious lives on account of complications arising from COVID-19 is for the Federal, State and Local Governments to embark on fixing and equipping public hospitals without any further delay.
“Just last week, the British Prime Minister, Mr. Boris Johnson, who was discharged from a public hospital in London after his treatment for COVID-19, was full of adulation for the National Health Service(NHS) of his country.
“That should be a sober lesson for members of the ruling class in Nigeria who usually spend public funds on medical treatment in foreign medical centres.”