Former governor of Lagos state, Bola Tinubu has appealed to the federal government to protect Nigerians from hunger and other disease while fighting the Coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement released on Wednesday April 15, Tinubu averred that social intervention programmes will only cater for small scale traders and leave out the average salary earners who lost their jobs because of the lockdown order.
Tinubu said “We dare not underestimate the twin dangers posed by the virus itself and the economic consequences of the public health response. Our goal must be that the people live neither with disease nor in hunger. This situation presents a historic chance to establish a more beneficial social contract between the government and the governed. If we so utilize this moment, it will be recorded as a pivotal one in our national history. If we allow this moment to slip, history will not be obliged to treat us with great mercy. The worst of this dark potential can be avoided if the government is prepared to act in ways that not only feed people but protect the basic contours of our private-sector economy so that it can more quickly revive once normal conditions return.
The APC chieftain recommended;
Suspension/amendment of the 5% deficit limit of the fiscal responsibility law which prohibits fiscal deficit from exceeding 5% of the nation’s gross domestic product. “The best step would be to suspend the 5% budgetary limit for this fiscal year. Alternatively, the limit should be raised to 25-30% to allow the federal government more room to make the minimum expenditures necessary to save the economy and the people,”
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