The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has appealed to the Federal and the State governments to set up more Isolation centres to cater for the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 being recorded daily nationwide.
The call, according to NANS, is coming following the announcement of the Federal and State governments to commence the gradual process of relaxing the COVID-19 lockdown.
NANS in a statement made available to DAILY POST by its National Public Relations Officer, Comrade Azeez Adeyemi, in Abeokuta on Monday, raised the alarm that there would be a surge in the number of cases recorded daily in the country as a result of the lockdown relaxation.
“We want to alert both the Federal and the State governments to the fact that there will be a surge in the number of cases daily recorded in the country as a result of the decision of the Federal and some State governments to ease off the lockdown,” Adeyemi said.
Speaking further, the students body alleged that “some State governments are taking advantage of the current situation in the country to concoct and fabricate figures of patients in their States in order to attract funds from the Federal government and others.”
Consequently, the Nigerian students called on the Federal government and the “Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to be alert to the antics of these States in their efforts to force the hands of Federal government and other organisations to disburse funds to them” by allegedly manufacturing “fake figures” of cases recorded in their States.
“We also implore the Federal government to properly study the results of cases reported on daily basis because of the antics of some States to dubiously get funds from the Federal government,” it said.
In the same vein, NANS also charged President Muhammadu Buhari not to bow to pressure from members of the public who were trying to force the hands of the government in suspending the lockdown.
“The Federal government must be a responsible and responsive government and must be able to take decisive decision when the need arises,” Adeyemi stated.