Champion Newspapers Limited
For a better society

Covid-19: Buhari lauds Sanwo-Olu’s efforts, says other states should understudy Lagos

14
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

IBRAHIM QUADRI

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday commended the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his “magnificent efforts at controlling coronavirus pandemic, noting Lagos is a forerunner in the country.

The Secretary to Government of the Federation and Chairman Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha, made the remarks in Lagos during a press briefing.

The Chairman, who led other members of the team on a tour of facilities provided by the State Government to avert the spread of the deadly virus, stated that other states in the country would have to understudy the State in the strategy to fight covid-19.

According to the SFG, “On behalf of Mr. President, I wish to commend the government of Lagos State magnificently controlling the pandemic and for putting in place isolation centers, ICU facilities as well as establishing a wide network of contact tracing.

“The Commissioner for Health in Lagos State has also been serving as the Chair of the Committee of experts set up by the Federal Government to evaluate and accredit private medical facilities and other centers for the management of COVID-19 cases.

“In appreciation of all the efforts of the Lagos State Government and the burden the state is carrying, Mr. President approved the sum of N10billion as support for fighting the virus.

“The Federal Government in addition to the donation above, allocated to Lagos the lion-share of the PPEs (facemask, face shield and overall gowns) donated to Nigeria by a Chinese philanthropist, Mr. Jac Ma. A few days ago, my office authorized the deployment on loan, of 25 Hilux vehicles from INEC, to Lagos state to support contact tracing.

“The cumulative efforts for the control of COVID-19 in Nigeria have attracted commendation from the UN Secretary-General, which assures us that we are working on the right path. The United Nations family in Nigeria has similarly launched the COVID-19 One Basket Fund, which was designed to serve as the One COVID-19 Financing and Investment Platform, for mobilization of resources.

“I therefore wish to seize the opportunity of this national briefing in Lagos, to inform you that the national response both at the Federal and Sub-national levels is a unified one, carefully guided by the National Multi-sectoral COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan.

“We are also working in collaboration with the WHO for guidance on issues of standardization and global policies.

I wish to, at this point, assure all Nigerians of the unwavering commitment of His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari to this war against COVID-19 and his readiness to mobilize resources to achieve our national objectives.

“The strategy adopted by the PTF working in conjunction with the states, include testing, detection, isolation, contact tracing and management.

“Haven stated the foregoing, I wish to emphasis that the nation is at war with an unseen but very potent enemy. To successfully prosecute this war, we must own it, we must participate in it, we must create awareness, we must obey rules and regulations, we must stay at home when ordered and we must not conceal any information from the medical and disease control authorities.

“So far, I think Lagos State is doing a great job. From what I’ve seen here, they’re putting up a first class and a world class facility that will help us in the management of those that are affected with COVID-19.

I think we are on course and the basic strategy of the national response is containment. try as much as possible to reduce spreads to tracking of those that have already been infected so that we minimize the the case of community transmission. And I think we’re doing very well.

“So far, processes that have been put in place, the plans, the objectives are being achieved. I listened to the briefing of the commissioner for Lagos State yesterday, where there was quite a clear indication that the reason for the lockdown and the processes that have been put in place is achieving its desired objective.”

For a better society

Comments are closed.