Speaking in Abuja on the increased cases of the imported dreaded virus in the country, Mrs Ene Obi, Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria “We commend some of the steps taken by the Presidential Task Force on the Control of Covid-19 thus far, but more needs to be done quickly and promptly. With the cases of infected persons increasing from 3 to 36 within a week, Nigeria needs to be ready for the worst-case scenario. Unfortunately, the concept of social distancing and self-isolation remains a mirage to many Nigerians.
The average Nigerian, particularly those offline and at the grassroot are still ignorant and lack the basic safeguarding information on symptoms and prevention of the spread of the virus. As a grassroot organisation, we are concerned that no proactive steps are being taken at the grassroot level and the average woman in the market is still unaware that the virus is so contagious that 1 infected person with high exposure can infect up to 2.5 million persons within 5 days as stated by the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire during a press conference earlier today, Monday 23rd March, 2020.
We are worried that Nigeria’s level of preparedness to respond to COVID-19 is low and this further buttress the need to re-prioritise Nigeria’s budgetary provisions by investing more in healthcare facilities. Nigeria’s porous borders makes her susceptible to outbreaks and it is quite unfortunate that we still have public gathering across the nation with many Nigerians still going about their businesses in packed public transport. Outbreaks and pandemics create an opportunity to re-evaluate the potency of our healthcare system and authenticity of our citizens database which would have eased contact tracing of the imported cases of the coronavirus.
ActionAid Nigeria, therefore, calls on the:
1. Federal Government to issue an order to lockdown the country for the next 14 days to curtail further spread of the virus.
2. State Governments to swiftly act by increasing the awareness on the proactive measures to prevent the spread of the virus at the grassroot level.
3. National Orientation Agency and Ministry of Information to intensify public awareness to sensitise the masses by translating preventive guidelines to major Nigerian languages, especially on radio and other traditional means of communication.
4. Media, particularly online mediums to fact-check and be more proactive in countering fake news.
5. Citizens to support government’s effort by reporting identified cases, practicing social distancing/ self-isolation, spreading preventive messages and desist from spreading unverified information.
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Politics