The world is awash with a dreadful pandemic called Covid-19 (Corona virus). It is wreaking havoc around the world with no end in sight. It is an unseen enemy that locks around in the air for few hours and in some cases days looking for a way to enter our body and do incalculable damage to our lung and other parts of our body it chooses to attack. Unfortunately, we are helpless against this unseen enemy. Nigerians and other people around the world who are dealing with their own pandemic are watching with interest the fight against Covid-19 in Nigerian. It is now clear to everybody around the World that it no longer matters where pandemics such as Covid-19 originates since it is a matter of time before it arrives at their doorstep.
Federal and state governments in Nigeria are doing as much as can be expected considering the limited manpower, equipment and financial resources at their disposal. Before the restoration of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, Nigerians are usually on their own when serious infectious disease strikes the country. Then successive military governments only pay lip service by pretending that they care but never does anything meaningful.
It was during Jonathan administration when Ebola struck Nigeria that his government under the honorable minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu did a wonderful job of containing the disease. His brilliant performance set a standard that the current administration is matching. The timely shut down of schools, civil service jobs and stay at home order by the federal and state governors has reduced the extent of the disaster that would have befallen Nigeria. It could have been catastrophic for Nigeria like we are seeing in countries like Brazil and other countries with callous leaders who do not give a darn. Nigerian government at all levels are working hard to see if they can get control of this disease.
The Nigerian Center for Disease Control system of testing, contact tracing and isolating the victims of Covid-19 by putting them in a designated isolation centers around the country where they are treated and feed until they recover or die is definitely the correct way to approach this disease. It is the way governments around the world should have been treating this pandemic.
Testing, contact tracing and isolating the victims reduces community spread of the disease which is a major problem in this war. The patients that has been discharged after receiving treatment in the designated isolation centers has nothing but praise for the federal and state governments. How could these victims take care of themselves if they are quarantined at home like we are seeing in advanced countries. It is not an accident that Nigerian have recorded only 7,839 infections and 226 dead as of May 25th, 2020 for a country of 200 million in population. It is true that the above number is under counted due to low number of tests being conducted in the country. Even if the above number is ten times more, it is still not too bad for a country of that seize with limited resources. Nigeria is one of the few countries that are doing serious contact tracing to find out who was exposed to an infected patient.
Interestingly, Nigerian medical personnel appear to have been equipped with better personal protective equipment (PPE) at the onset of the pandemic compared to medical personnel in advanced countries. In United States, I remember seeing doctors, nurses and other medical personnel on television expressing their frustration with lack of protective equipment. I even saw some ordinary Nigerian citizens with regular superior mask compared to home-made mask U.S. citizens are been advised to wear. Recent extension of the stay at home order by President Buhari makes a lot of sense. Rush to open the economy will ruin every gain that has been made against this virus.
Nigerians need to keep faith in-order to defeat this monster like they did during Ebola out- break. President Buhari and state governors are doing a good job so far. Complaint by some Nigerians about lost business and sporadic incompetency of some government officials is understandable but no government is perfect. Nigerian ministry of health and Nigerian Center for Disease control has done and continues to do a good job. Kudos to the relentless and able governor of Lagos state and others who has devoted their time and energy in combating this pandemic. Every Nigerian citizen must do their part by wearing face mask outside their homes and maintain social distance of 6 feet when possible. It is the only medicine against covid-19 for now.