Mr Femi Adesina has defended President Muhammadu Buhari for not addressing Nigerians on the coronavirus (COVID-19) on a daily basis.
Against the backdrop of the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country numbering over 50, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity believes his principal has a right to his style of leadership.
Asked why the President did not brief Nigerians as it was done in other countries, Adesina said, “It’s a matter of style”.
“The style that A adopts may not be the one that B adopts, and there is no style that you can call ‘this style’ for everybody. So, everybody is at liberty to adopt a style that suits him.”
Adesina, however, noted that the President had put certain measures in place to ensure information was passed through the right channels.
He listed these to include the setting up of a Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus, as well as briefings from the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), among other stakeholders in the nation’s health sector.
With these measures being operational, the presidential aide stressed that there was no need for President Buhari to give a regular briefing, as long as there was no communication breach.
He said, “The style our President has adopted is to set up a Presidential Task Force headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), which briefs regularly.
“You have the Minister of Health who briefs, you have the Minister of State for Health who briefs, you have the NCDC who briefs; so you have that chain and there is no lack of information.”