By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has urged federal, state and local governments to constitute COVID-19 implementation evaluation committees for reappraisal of government policies and programmes this lockdown period.

Mr Vincent Ezekwueme, the Chairman of CLO, Anambra, made the call while speaking with newsmen in Enugu on Sunday.

Ezekwueme said that the evaluation committee was necessary as a matter of public interest as regard the provisions of palliatives stimulus to cushion the effects of coronavirus pandemic.

According to him, it would also evaluate how far targeted poor citizenry actually benefited from the palliatives measures.

“The evaluation committee become invaluable in view of lamentations of the citizen over their inability to access much cherished and celebrated palliatives stimulus.

“It is no longer news that the problems, plights, predicaments and pains of poor and vulnerable citizens has worsened due to the lockdown, as majority of the citizenry now lives from hand to mouth.

“Most pathetic are wheelbarrows and truck pushers, petty traders, hawkers, artisans and those who depend on their daily incomes to fend for their families.

“There had been torrents of complaints lodged in our office which we lacked financial capacity to tackle hence the need to draw the attention of governments and relevant authorities, become inevitable and our last resort,” Ezekwueme said.

He noted that religious leaders, NGOs and traditional rulers lives closer to the people and know the poor in their midst, “they are in a better position to dispense palliatives to indigent citizenry.”

“The political class should be in the vanguard for providing palliatives stimulus to cushion despicable effects of coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

“Any political leader who failed in that regard should not seek people’s mandate as leadership is for selfless services not for unbridled quest for materialism to the detriment of the masses,” he said.