Omokri defends Nigerian govt, says nothing wrong in begging US billionaire for ventilators

A former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri has said that Nigerian government did nothing wrong by begging for ventilators from an American billionaire.

The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning had in a post on its official Twitter account, begged Elon Musk, an American billionaire for ventilators to treat coronavirus victims in Nigeria.

The ministry made the plea after Tesla co-founder, Elon Musk tweeted that he had ventilators to donate to hospitals worldwide for immediate use.

The country’s Ministry of Finance, in its tweet begged him to give Nigeria between 100 to 500 to help treat coronavirus patients in the country.

But many Nigerians thought the request was uncalled for. Many of them took to different social media platforms to lambast the ministry for making such request.

In his response, however, Omokri wrote on his Twitter handle-@renoomokri:

“There was NOTHING wrong with what the Ministry of Finance did, by begging Elon Musk for ventilators. No nation was prepared for the novel #CoronaVirus.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: Buhari govt says it regrets begging US billionaire for ventilators

“Ventilators are the most sought after materiel commodity on Earth. They were only trying to save lives by whatever means they had. New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo begged for ventilators on TV! It is not a disgrace to beg to save lives!”

Meanwhile, the ministry has since described the action as highly regrettable, saying it had deleted the tweet.

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