Photograph — Ventures Africa

On Thursday, 26 March 2o20, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari made a public statement on the measures the government is putting in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic via his Twitter handle. The announcement comes a day after Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on world leaders to go beyond national lockdowns and implement more practical measures that will tackle the virus during the stay-at-home periods.

On his Twitter thread, Buhari announced that the immediate release of a 10 billion Naira grant to the Lagos state government is to enable it “increase its capacity to control and contain the outbreak, while also supporting other states with capacity-building.”


The President noted that the reason behind the move to shut down the country’s International Airports and Land Borders is to protect Nigeria from external exposure and to enable it “put up the appropriate policies, processes and infrastructure to cope with suspected and confirmed cases at home, without risking a compounding of the situation with more imported cases.” This move, although progressive, came after the country had recorded over 30 cases. As of the time of this writing, 27 March 2020, Nigeria has recorded 61 cases of coronavirus. 

Meanwhile, other African countries without a single case like Malawi and Sierre Leone have taken up more stringent measures to protect their territories against the outbreak of the pandemic.

In a further statement, the president announced the immediate release of a 5 billion Naira special intervention fund to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) to equip, expand and provide personnel to its facilities and laboratories across the country. The government’s release of intervention funds to the NCDC at this critical time, when the country has already recorded 61 cases, is a clear indication of how little prepared the giant of Africa nation is in the fight against the spread of the pandemic.

In a country where about 55.4 percent of active youth is unemployed, the government has ordered the NCDC to redraft its recent retirees to come on board in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This simply highlights the shortsightedness of the government to tap into potentials in its human resource.


A couple of youth, on his Twitter page, reacted to the decision to redraft retirees back into the system. Below are some of the reactions from the youth:


Meanwhile, the WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, bluntly admonished world leaders on Wednesday on the world’s progress against the disease, which has killed about 25,422 people globally as of the time of this writing. 

The WHO Director while commending efforts made by countries to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, which has no vaccines yet, said that “asking people to stay at home and shutting down population movement is buying time and reducing the pressure on health systems.” He, therefore, urged governments “who have introduced so-called ‘lockdown’ measures to use this time to attack the virus,” adding that they “have created a second window of opportunity” for their countries to tackle the virus spread.

The head of the WHO went on to make 6 recommendations. They include the expansion, training and deployment of health-care workers; implementing of systems to find every suspected case at the community level; ramping up the production capacity and availability of testing;  identifying, adapting and equipping facilities to be used to treat and isolate patient; developing a clear plan and process to quarantine contacts; refocusing the whole of government on suppressing and controlling COVID-19.

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