Omicron: ActionAid tasks FG on religious, traditional leaders’ inclusion

The ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has urged the federal government to boost the campaign on COVID-19 vaccination and co-opt religious and traditional leaders as champions to reduce misconceptions and myths surrounding vaccination, especially in the face of the emergent Omicron variant.

This is contained in the resolution at the end of the Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting of ActionAid Nigeria, to review the State of the Nation on Sunday in Abuja.

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The resolution was jointly signed by Dr Jummai Umar-Ajijola, Board Chair; and Mac Imoni Amarere, Vice Board Chair of AAN.

AAN also urged the government to avert the looming Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)’s strike over the implementation of the agreement reached by both parties.

“The Federal Government through the National Orientation Agency should intensify the campaign on COVID-19 vaccination and co-opt religious and traditional rulers as champions to reduce misconceptions and myths surrounding the vaccination especially in the face of the emergent Omicron variant.

“We call on the Federal Government to promptly implement all contents of the FGN/ASUU agreement.

“Government should declare a state of emergency on education to rebuild it and ensure that the children of the poor get quality education,” the organisation said.

It urged the government to match the anti-corruption rhetoric with action as part of measures to reduce poverty in the country.

“We call for strong institutions capable of independent interpretation and implementation of public policy objectives in Nigeria.

“Similarly, the anti-corruption fight should go beyond the focus on the politicians but also beam its light on the public servants and banks.

“Commensurate sanctions must be meted out to perpetrators of malfeasance and corrupt acts to serve as a deterrent to others as a way of forestalling the culture of wrongdoing in public offices,” it said.

The AAN BoT said that bullying in schools is an unacceptable culture, and school administrators, parents and relevant government educational authorities must create a functional mechanism for reporting and dealing appropriately with the act to kick it out of the nation’s schools for the safety of the children.

On the 2023 General Elections, the organisation said that vote trading has continued to feature in Nigeria’s elections and will remain to be so if perpetrators go unpunished.

It, therefore, called for the establishment of the National Electoral Offences Commission to prosecute electoral offenders and for INEC Adhoc staff to be retrained on the electoral processes, especially on how to operate the Biometric Voters’ Accreditation System (BVAS).