The group said the masses in Nigeria had been the hardest hit and have had to rely on meagre and almost non-existent palliatives from government while wealthy business owners were given exemptions.
The Movement for a Socialist Alternative has condemned the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for its handling of citizens’ welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group in a statement on Tuesday by Dagga Tolar for the Provisional Working Committee, said the masses in Nigeria had been the hardest hit and have had to rely on meagre and almost non-existent palliatives from government while wealthy business owners were given exemptions.
The group called for the abolition of capitalism in Nigeria to be replaced with socialism, which they argued will benefit the masses more.
The statement reads in part, "The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has further torn asunder the fabric of global capitalism, demonstrating to all that a system solely driven by the greed for profit cannot be relied upon to meet the needs of the working masses and poor people of the world.
"From countries to countries, we have seen how the logic of profit and a private sector-driven health sector have proved incapable of meeting headlong the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The capitalist state in several countries, against the logic of the capitalist system they protect, have directly intervened with funds in the health sector, as well as in other sectors of the economy impacted negatively by the shut-down of the world economy.
"This act helps to confirm the superiority of the ideas of public ownership and democratic management of all key sectors of the economy, of both production and distribution of goods and services to meet the needs of the working masses.
"Need we point out that the interventions of these governments, in Nigeria and elsewhere, are a consequence of the refusal of capitalists to take on the burden of any venture that is not profitable, and as well as calculated to assuage the losses of local capitalists.
"The question of providing succour to the vast majority that suffer the most from the effects of an economic shut-down is at best a cover for diverting public funds into private pockets.
"If anything; COVID-19 has torn to shred the façade of social intervention put up by the populist regime of President Buhari with the regime hated more than ever by the working masses.
"It is clear the government has no thimble of goodwill left, other than among the few elites that benefit materially from its existence. A palpable anger at the insensitive conduct of the regime at a period of humanitarian crisis persists among the people.
"The easing of the lock-down is not based on any success or medical breakthrough in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. The regime is in complete paralysis and has demonstrated a false sense of surprise at the comatose state of health facilities in the country.”