The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, caucus in the House of Representatives has urged the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, to send the donated salaries of its members to their various states, rather than into the national purse.
The leader of the caucus, Kingsley Chinda, made the call in a statement he issued on Thursday.
The House had resolved to donate two months’ salaries to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
The speaker, Mr Gbajabiamila, announced the gesture in a video he shared on Facebook, Tuesday afternoon but Mr Chinda in his statement said the lawmakers were dissatisfied with the distribution of palliatives by the federal government.
He added that the COVID-19 palliative measures outlined in the broadcast of President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday were not far-reaching enough and some are completely inapplicable.
Chinda said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly taken our country on an emergency course, unexpected and unanticipated at the beginning of the year.
“It is our considered view that the palliative measures outlined in the presidential broadcast and regulation are not far-reaching enough, while some are completely inapplicable.
“We must learn quickly from experience by ensuring that immediate measures on food security are ramped up.
“One way of doing this is to open up our national food and grain reserves across the country and distribute food to the poorest of the poor in our country at the local government level.
“The President should as a matter of utmost urgency, issue an Executive Order, pursuant to his powers preserved by Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution, directing the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, National Food Reserve Agency and the National Emergency Management Authority to release and manage the distribution of food in our national reserves.”
“The House of Representatives should send directly to the various States the donations of their State Representatives,” Chinda noted.
The lawmaker also urged the House to come up with additional emergency bills to address price regulation of essential commodities such as medicals and food.
