The rampaging Coronavirus which has taken world center stage since it struck in Wahun, China in December 2019 took many by surprise and has put the medical world and governments on a long stretch of pressure that has challenged even the most modern. With the flame of consumption leaping through the world, Africa almost the last continent hit by the now pandemic virus, was projected to be its worst killer zone but by a fluke of circumstance, the expected projections of at least 300,000 deaths has failed. We are yet circling the below 2000 death zone while others like Europe, 175,000 and America, 103,000 have recorded higher casualty figures.
While the death toll in Nigeria has so far not blown up, the management of the virus has exposed the country as a failed government. First, while we had ample time, the virus was declared in China last December and we watched as it spread to Europe ravaging Italy and Spain, then France, Germany and Britain, as a country doing business with all the affected regions and with a high percentage of its citizenry living in these countries, it was obvious that the virus announced to be transferable through contact with droplets from infected persons would easily touch our base if not quickly checked but, the government did not shut its borders even as others were doing so.
The Nigerian government has over the years ceased to develop the health sector resulting in an unending rift with health workers over facilities and remuneration; instead, a culture of overseas trips for medical treatment developed so much that Nigeria was spending billions on medical tourism boosting the economies of countries like Britain, Germany, USA, Dubai, etc. Consequently, our hospitals became medically barren, good only for the poor who lack the financial means to seek attention elsewhere. Doctors soon left the shores in search of better pay and more challenging and satisfying work experience. Only a few, newly graduated or those in private practice stayed back. It has become regular fare to walk into a teaching hospital and see patients on the floor, newly delivered mothers sitting on chairs because there are not enough bed spaces to put the sick. The health sector was in shambles even though year in year out, there were provisions for that sector in state and federal government budgets.
That was the state of affairs when COVID-19 made its appearance. The federal government told Nigerians it was ready for the unwanted visitor should it come but when it landed our shores on February 26 through an Italian guest, the federal task force was not ready; only the Lagos State government was actually prepared to handle the challenges of the pandemic. It was by providence that Lagos was the first port of call of the deadly disease. When the USA was raised an initial $1bn to tackle the pandemic, Nigeria was quoting N1bn. But even that was not really put to use because when COVID-19 finally berthed in Abuja hitting the high and mighty in government, the key Intensive Care Center in Gwagwalada designated for the virus treatment was no way near a state of readiness. We were later to understand that the Federal Ministry of Health was unable to make adequate arrangement because the former Health Minister fell out with the late Chief of Staff to the president, Abba Kyari who, being more powerful than even the president, took away the power to procure materials for the hospitals and health facilities in the country and handed over that right to a non-medical person, the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development. That right is yet to be reverted even with the man dead and the country in very grave danger from the coronavirus.
It was very fortunate for the country that the pandemic has locked all-both the rich and poor- down within forcing all to access the poorly funded and ill-equipped facilities in the country. It is instructive that though more money has been approved for the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, it appears that beyond centers being built and handed over by corporate bodies like Access Bank, churches and drugs, vehicles and equipment being freely donated by organizations, international development partners and foreign governments, the Boss Mustapha PTF is yet to tell Nigerians what has been done from government allocated purse to update the health sector for the war at hand.Test Centers are still in deficit, even the few available seem not to have enough kits as the National Center for Disease Control, NCDC was a few days ago, begging for test kits, announcing that the center was running out of supply; this as the main battle season is approaching with the community spread level and the massive out-break of the virus in Kano State. State governments have also been calling on the PTF to grant them financial support to strengthen their efforts at tackling the pandemic in their domain, Beyond Lagos State granted a N10bn support, no state has yet been announced as assigned any financial or material support yet this is a national emergency and therefore, is supposed to be the sole responsibility of the federal government.
Since the country is in a state of flux with none really in control, it has become a bazaar with everyone struggling to carry away as much as they can under the guise of distributing cash and goods as palliatives to cushion the effects of the lockdown imposed by government to lock out coronavirus. Beyond the media hype, that has proven a gross failure and blatantly one-sided insulting the psyche of Nigerians from the Southern part of the country. From the office of the Minister for Humanitarian Affairsonly, in Katsina State 135,000 citizens received the N20,000 palliatives from the 340,0000 released by the ministry in the first phase. The South South was not in the picture but the wealth that produced that grant came from the land of deprived farmers and fisher folk,some of whom are languishing in abject poverty. Same is the story of rice from the Customs department to support the people under the lockdown.
What is the message? The managers of the government of this country, drunk in excess corruption and impunity, have become so uncaring that they have become too careless to bother how the other half feels and that is dangerous and bad for the continued peaceful existence of Nigeria as a country. The continued glaring display of disregard for the things that bind this country-the federal character, non-secular state which respects all religions, respect for all tribes-have produced a very incompetent government that is sinking the country socially and economically.
COVID-19 presents us with the opportunity to right these wrongs, to begin to re-build this country starting with the placement of knowledgeable persons who can help us drive this country out of the ditch that a retinue of poor drivers selected for religious and ethnic considerations have ran it into. It is an opportunity to re-examine our individual approaches to issues, to shake off the garment of falsehood that has been weighing us down so, we can begin to see that Nigeria is becoming an ant rather than the giant it was known to be. And that with the pandemic, major changes are already taking place which if we fail to adapt to on time, would leave us in a state of disaster. We have borrowed enough; it is time to start developing our own products, finished products for the world to patronize. China and IMF are no godfathers; soon they will come knocking to collect and with oil prices down, Nigeria may be on her way to re-colonization, so, it is time to wake up!
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Editorial