The move by the government to ban anti-vaccination protests and all other demonstrations outside hospitals in a bid to make Alberta health-care facilities safer for staff, patients and families, is a clear demonstration of the idiomatic expression “a stitch in time saves nine”.
Premier Jason Kenney, who made the announcement, also stated that the regulations of the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act have been amended to ensure that health-care facilities are subject to the same legal protection as railways, highways and pipelines, carrying punishments for trespassing, interfering with operations and construction or causing damage.
According to the Premier, the measure is in response to the recent protests that rocked the country by anti-vaccination groups.
Kenney said “Recently, Albertans watched anti-vaccine protesters stand in front of our hospitals, hurling mistruths and misinformation about our health-care system, our doctors and our nurses. People were rightly shocked to see this totally inappropriate behaviour from a vocal minority.”
As a people oriented paper that is concerned about the wellbeing of the people, we strongly believe that the move is imperative to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are constrained to remind the public that the war against the virus is still very active and clustering people to protest certain things is adding fuel to the already ravaging furnace.
While we acknowledge that everyone have rights to exercise their freedom of expression and association, it’s necessary to take caution to avoid a further spark of the virus. With over 1.6million cases and over 27,000 deaths recorded across the nation so far, it’s only wise that adequate precaution is taken to avert more wreckage.
That Premier Kenney and Justice Minister Kaycee Madu have reiterated that the intention was not to interfere with any individual’s constitutional right to lawful protest is also a germane reason for everyone to hold their peace for the government to focus its attention on the fight against the pandemic.
“Albertans must have the ability to access health care when they need it and health-care professionals must have the ability to do their work free from interference,” Madu said.
We believe that getting vaccinated will help curtail the spread and damages of the virus so it’s rather ill-fated to wage war against this move in protests. Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw had disclosed that over the past 120 days, people who aren’t fully vaccinated represented 80 per cent of people hospitalized with COVID-19 and 91 per cent of those in the ICU. “These numbers speak for themselves: vaccines are critically important,” she said.
We strongly believe that if the populace greases the efforts of the government by getting vaccinated, it will go a long way in the ferocious fight against the pandemic. The vaccines have been medically certified effective and without side effects, so it will be counter efforts to avoid getting vaccinated. We call on all parties to shear their swords and look for ways to partner the government in the fight against the virus.
In another development, we are disturbed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s continued loans despite the fact that the nation is already grossly indebted. In a recent move, Buhari wrote the National Assembly seeking approval to borrow another $4 billion ($4,054,476,863) and €710 million loan from bilateral and multilateral organisations to fund the deficit in the 2021 budget.
His recent loan request comes barely two months after the National Assembly approved his earlier request to borrow $8.3 billion and €490 million loans contained in the initial 2018-2020 borrowing plan.
In a letter sent to the Senate, Buhari said the loan request is an addendum to the 2018-2020 borrowing plan. He explained that the need to borrow more funds is to meet “emerging needs” of some “critical projects.”
“The projects listed in the external borrowing plan are to be financed through sovereign loans from the World Bank, French Development Agency, EXIM Bank and IFAD in the total sum of $4,054,476,863 and €710 million and grant components of $125 million,” he said. Already, the 2021 budget has a deficit of N5.6 trillion.
With the N33.107 trillion debt already accumulated by President Buhari and the APC with very little to show, an addition of the new loans will mean that the APC will be hanging over N40 trillion debt on the nation, with no clear-cut repayment plan.
We are worried that with the reckless borrowing by Buhari and the APC, Nigerians might eventually not have a nation and a patrimony that they can freely call their own, after the Buhari’s administration which has less than two years to vacate office.
We are calling on the president and all stakeholders in his administration to stop mortgaging the future of Nigerians.
