After choosing health over economics, President Muhammadu Buhari and his Presidential Task Force on Covid19 have set a high bar of expectations. Citizens want to know what happens in the next 14 days following the extension of the lockdown on Lagos and Ogun States as well as the FCT. How would the management of the coronavirus response and citizen welfare be different from the first 14 days?
For many citizens, the sacrifice that PMB has demanded is a choice between covid19 versus hunger. The majority will easily comply with the guidelines on social distancing, washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, never touch their faces, isolation, sneeze into elbows or tissues and wear masks or other protective equipment. The economic challenge is not so easily tackled, what with shut factories, banks and opportunities to earn income.
The government may have followed global best practice and bought time with the extension. Citizens see the extension the other way. They see it as the period that the federal government needs to put things right with the containment of the coronavirus and management of the economy. They cannot wait for the reopening of the economy.
Great expectations lie in the minds of citizens for the next 14 days, and their focus is the Federal Government represented by the Presidential Task Force on Covid19. PTFCovid19 would need to do things and communicate them so it earns the trust and confidence of Nigerians.
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Here are the critical areas.
Increased test numbers
Nigeria is ninth in the Top Ten league of coronavirus testing by African countries. We are only slightly ahead of Uganda. PTFCovid19 and the Ministry of Health have a call to deliver a minimum of 21,000 additional tests by 27 April. It works out at the 1, 500 tests daily that PMB says Nigeria now can deliver. By 27 April, therefore, citizens expect that Nigeria’s test numbers should be reading between 26,000 to 30,000.
Great expectations lie in the minds of citizens for the next 14 days, and their focus is the Federal Government represented by the Presidential Task Force on Covid19. PTFCovid19 would need to do things and communicate them so it earns the trust and confidence of Nigerians
The question arising is would that number be anywhere near enough? What percentage of the population need to be tested to establish an adequate and representative sample? Who determines the baseline?
Management of coronavirus support funds and materials
The European Union donated through President Buhari on 14 April 2020 additional N21billion to the funds that have come in to aid Nigeria in managing COVID-19. Organisations and individuals donated huge sums to this cause at the federal and state level. Last week, we reported that CaCovid said they now had N21 billion. The EU donation sounds like counterpart funding!
It has been raining Naira since the coronavirus support effort commenced. PTFCovid-19 owes citizens at least two things. Get to work with deploying the funds to build proper health infrastructure. Then give a full accounting of the money every month until the end of their six-month tenure.
Jump starting indigenous technology in healthcare
I keep drawing attention to one of those positive bromides captured as an “objective” of the PTFCovid19. It said the Task Force would seek to “lay a foundation for scientific and medical research to address all emerging infectious diseases”. Well, it is game time now. PTFCovid19 should set up the sub-committee. They should be liaising with our pharmaceutical manufacturers and the many research institutes in our land. Many eminent citizens, specialists as well as dabblers, are stepping with suggestions on incorporating into our pharmacopoeia indigenous formulations. Let’s hear what is playing out.
No cash backing
Many people do not associate the bureaucracy in Nigeria with creativity. However, when you get close you will be amazed at how they turn situations in their environment into creative coinages. Remember 419? It came from that section in the criminal code. The Police and the civil service gave it wings.
One of the most popular expressions from the service is the concept of “no cash backing”. It refers to a situation where a supplier’s papers have gone through the mill. All that is left is get your cheque. Sometimes it can even be that relevant authorities have signed the cheque. Then they tell you not to present. Why? “There is no cash backing”.
The Federal Government locked down citizens with “no cash backing” for more than 85 per cent of the people. PMB’s order to increase by 1m recipients of the conditional cash transfer to 3.6m drew deserved scorn everywhere. PTFCovid19 should bring the president up to date and cause a scaling up of the numbers. 3.6m in this land? It would not even suffice for Lagos State! Please let’s get serious.
Equity in disbursements
When and where there is cash, the Federal Government should practise equity. It is not equitable that it shuts down Lagos and Ogun States as well as the FCT, depriving residents of opportunities to earn, then sends the most financial assistance to Zamfara and Katsina states. Citizens are watching the PTFCovid19 to see how it rescues the Buhari administration from such uneven handed measures.
