• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Nigeria’s emergency response and management capabilities are pretty mediocre

Nigeria’s emergency response and management

The coronavirus pandemic may seem to have taken every nation by surprise, yet it was wholly predictable and was, indeed, predicted. The world was warned to prepare for such a major epidemic. Anyone who had been following the microbiological world or the world of epidemiologists and public health experts knew that it was a matter of time before a deadly virus struck that could turn the world upside down and shatter the fabrics of everyday life.

In a very insightful piece entitled, “This is the cost of our hideous complacency”, David Aaronovitch, a columnist on the London Times newspaper, listed the stark warnings, issued over the past five years, about the likelihood of a potentially devastating global pandemic, and the clarion call for every nation to do everything possible to prevent, detect and prepare for such an event.

For instance, four years ago, the independent Commission on Global Health Risk Framework for the Future published a report on how something like a flu pandemic could kill millions, cost trillions, and derail the global economy. Last September, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board issued an expert warning that “the threat of a pandemic spreading around the globe is a real one” and that “a quick-moving pathogen has the potential to kill tens of millions of people, disrupt economies and destabilise national security.” Then, in November last year, the reputable Centre for Strategic and International Studies published a report entitled “Ending the Cycle of Crisis and in US Global Health Security”, calling for that cycle to be replaced “with a doctrine of continuous prevention, protection and resilience.”

So, the world was warned. But when the coronavirus started in December last year, no nation, absolutely no nation, was prepared for it. And, as a result, panic gripped the entire world as the pandemic spread globally. As I write, there are, according to “Worldometer”, the global statistical body, 3,952,162 confirmed coronavirus cases and 271,884 deaths worldwide!

One thing that was, however, not predicted in all the modelling was that the epicentres of the pandemic would be Western countries and not developing countries, particularly Africa. Although the virus started in China, the countries that have been hardest hit are the United States, where there have, as I write, been 1,295,273 cases and 77,092 deaths, and countries in Western Europe, notably, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. The pandemic has really tested the health services and the economies of Western countries to their limits.

But here is the question: If the Covid-19 pandemic were to hit Nigeria, which currently has 3,526 cases and 107 deaths, does the country have the capability to handle such a major health emergency? The answer must be “no” because Nigeria’s emergency preparedness and response capabilities are extraordinarily mediocre, a consequence of the country’s    weak state capacity, particularly its lack of capacity for essential functions.

Government effectiveness is defined as the ability to get things done. But, as everyone knows, Nigeria cannot provide the basic things that citizens of other nations take for granted. Think of it, which basic service works well in Nigeria? Hardly any! And, of course, this feeds through to Nigeria’s rankings in international league tables. For instance, according to the 2018 Government Effectiveness Index, produced by the Global Economy.com, Nigeria ranked 164 out of 193 countries.

A few years ago, some foreign security experts came to Nigeria to study its crisis management system with a view to offering advice and support. What they found shocked them. Nigeria’s standards, they said, were below what they had feared. The country’s technical ability to handle crisis was very low. There was little day-to-day preparedness; there were too many competing agencies that never talked to each other, let alone coordinate their activities. The whole system was absurdly hierarchical and deferential, with an entrenched ‘Oga factor’. Although there were gadgets everywhere, none was connected to the real world. Basic IT skills were lacking. In short, the whole system was utterly shambolic and chaotic.

When it comes to emergency preparedness and response, Nigeria has many agencies established statutorily for those purposes. But which of the emergency or crisis management institutions is working? Which of them has the ability to get things done?

Take the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, established in 2011. The NCDC’s strapline is “protecting the health of Nigerians”, which is an absolutely appropriate vision. After all, as Cicero, the Roman orator, said, “The health of the people should be the supreme law”. But rhetoric apart, is the NCDC competent enough to achieve that goal?

To be clear, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director-General of the NCDC, is an internationally-renown public health expert, trained in Nigeria, Germany, and Britain. He has worked on public health issues across the world, including as a senior consultant to the World Health Organisation, WHO. Indeed, as President Buhari said in his first broadcast on the coronavirus, Dr Ihekweazu was one of the ten global health leaders invited by the WHO to visit China and understudy that country’s response to its Covid-19 crisis. So, there is no question about the competence and suitability of Dr Ihekweazu as the D-G of the NCDC.

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The truth is, despite having many emergency management institutions, Nigeria lacks the capabilities to handle serious emergencies. Yet emergencies are inevitable. Nigeria must build its institutional capacities to prepare for and respond to them

But here is the trouble. The NCDC that Dr Ihekweazu leads is severely hamstrung institutionally. For instance, according to the 2019 Global Health Security Index, GHI, Nigeria ranked 123 out of 195 on emergency preparedness; 170 on health capacity; and 174 on risk environment and vulnerability to biological threat. In other words, Nigeria is quite mediocre, by world standards, on health security capabilities.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Nigeria several months ago, there have been about 20,000 tests. Nigeria is still struggling to establish an effective testing, tracking and tracing system. Yet, it is well known that, without a vaccine, testing, tracing, isolation and treatments are the only ways of tackling Covid-19. But Nigeria’s testing and tracing capacity is pathetically poor.  Indeed, Nigeria’s very low rankings on the GHI’s category of “sufficient and robust health sector to treat the sick and protect health workers” shows that the NCDC would be significantly constrained to deal with major emergencies and, thus, can’t be trusted to protect the health of Nigerians!

Then, there is the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. Last week, President Buhari sacked its beleaguered Director-General, Mustapha Maihaja, a year before the expiry of his term, presumably because of incompetence. In 2018, NEMA held a workshop on “repositioning and re-engineering the agency’s operations” and a few months later held a retreat on “repositioning, strengthening and reorientation for effective performance of NEMA”. Obviously, NEMA is sick and unfit to manage major emergencies!

Finally, what about the ministry in charge of emergencies? Last year, as he started his second term, President Buhari created a new ministry called the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, with a convoluted acronym, FMHDSD. Surely, if there is any time the ministry should prove its mettle, this is the time. As the Financial Times wrote recently, “It is imperative to do everything possible to limit the consequences of lockdowns for the poorest”, citing what India is doing to that end.

But the FMHDSD has largely failed to do that. Its minister, Sadiya Farouq, is good at paying courtesy calls on governors and other dignitaries and grabbing photo opportunities. The ministry’s website and Facebook page are littered with such pictures. Yet, many poor Nigerians say they are not getting the so-called social palliatives, and even some of the N-Power beneficiaries say they have not received their stipends since March! So, how humanitarian is the FMHDSD?

The truth is, despite having many emergency management institutions, Nigeria lacks the capabilities to handle serious emergencies. Yet emergencies are inevitable. Nigeria must build its institutional capacities to prepare for and respond to them.