The Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Friday warned against playing politics with the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines that arrived in the country on Tuesday.
Speaking at the occasion of the formal roll out of the COVID-19 vaccines at the National Hospital in Abuja, the Speaker all persons and agencies involved in the distribution of the vaccine must work to achieve a common purpose of ensuring they get to all Nigerians.
“We must not play politics with the vaccines. We must not play politics with the health of our people. We must be on the same page. We must do what we need to do in terms of our different roles in checking the government and holding their feet to the fire,” Gbajabiamila said.
The Speaker urged all Nigerians to rally behind the Federal Government to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, describing the virus, which has wreaked havoc on the global health systems and economy as “an unseen enemy” causing havoc around the world.
The media, he said, must play its role effectively, by ensure they pass accurate information about the virus and the vaccines to the public and ensure the right decisions were taken always by the authorities.
He said only a collective effort devoid of politics and conspiracy theories could guarantee a successful war against the virus to ensure the health of the people in the country.
The vaccination exercise, he noted, was a special moment in the history, as the country finally began the journey of fighting a pandemic that has ravaged the economy and changed lifestyles in the last one year.
“This is the time for us to rally behind the government. The virus knows no creed, knows no religion, knows no ethnicity, knows no sex and knows no age.
“So, it is important for all of us to come together as a country to fight the pandemic. As I have often said, we are actually in a war, but in a war with an unseen enemy.
“Therefore, when a country goes to war, it goes as one. I want to implore all Nigerians, therefore, not to give in to conspiracy theories, because we will hear them,” the Speaker said.
He said with the support of the National Assembly, the government would succeed in delivering more vaccine doses to the country soon to expand the vaccination beyond the expected first four million doses.
On the efforts of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the Speaker urged them to remain doggedness in the fight as they have been in the last one year to contain the virus from spreading out of control in the country.
He commended the health workers and other frontline personnel for risking their lives to ensure the lives of other Nigerians could be saved from the virus.
