FGN should release minimum of N74bn to states, FCT to fight pandemic – Obaze

Mr. Oseloka H. Obaze who is the MD/CEO of Selonnes Consult is a diplomat, politician and former governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP in Anambra State.

Obaze who served as the Secretary to the State Government during former governor Peter Obi administration was credited for the effective way he handled the 2012 flood disaster that ravaged six local government areas in the state.

In an interview with our Correspondent, Pamela  Eboh, Obaze harped on the need for both the Federal and State governments to adopt proactive measures and money to forestall a devastating effect of Coronavirus in the state and on Nigeria.

He expressed fear that Nigeria may have a herculean task in its hands judging from the wreck the pandemic have already caused in developed countries of the world.

Excerpt:

Is Nigeria really ready to grapple with COVID-19 and do you think we have the human and material resources to do so?

Watching major countries grapple with COVID-19 with quite some difficulty, I’m amazed at our general lack of overall and systematic national contingency planning. Simply, it’s delusional for us to think that COVID-19 won’t arrive in Nigeria with a bang sometime soon. The Nigerian numbers are already creeping up and we are losing lead time in planning adequately for that ominous 360 degree moment. The present situation and our scope of response is simply surreal. The Covid -19 pandemic is here and expanding in Nigeria.The federal health and emergency authorities including the CBN are responding as they deem fit.The healthcare providers need  more support. But the reactive responses so far are grossly insufficient for the scope of impending complex emergency and crisis   that could be cataclysmic for Nigeria.

Some states, including Anambra are closing schools and banning public gatherings, is that sufficient?

Closing public institutions and banning public gatherings is salutory, but our national medical response capacity is far from efficient and sufficient for the scope of unfolding public health emergency. When the crisis unfolds fully in weeks or months ahead and the ripple-effects manifest, individuals and communities will inevitably turn to state governments, which at this juncture are mostly ill-prepared and ill-equipped to respond efficiently and robustly.

Do you think the state is well preparer to fight the spread of this pandemic head on?

For now we are well behind the response curve. We need to start setting up centralized testing and holding spheres, as well as quarantine areas. We need to escalate public awareness preventive measures advocacy. If we are going to eventually lockdown cities, towns and communities, there must be contingency plans for food and materials for family sustenance for that to work. That is where NEMA and the SEMAs will come in. From a complex emergency response perspective, each of the 36 states should by now have multi-disciplinary crisis management and response  teams that incorporates the security and military arms, frontline healthcare providers and other first responder teams. More importantly, this is the time for the federal government to reach out to states and make huge funding available to them.

So far the FGN has released N 368 million and the CBN announced that N50 billion has been earmarked to support families and businesses affected by the impact of the novel coronavirus. Are  these financial interventions adequate?

The interventions are worthwhile but hardly adequate. In addition to these, I believe the FGN as a matter of urgency should release at the minimum, N74 billion to the 36 States, the FCT and

NCDC for emergency preparedness and response.The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) should unilaterally receive N2bn. The  proposed funding is exclusive of any funding already released to the Federal Ministry of Health for emergency preparedness. If Nigeria must suspend the 2020 budgetary appropriations in order to   effectively combat COVID-19, then so be it.

What do you see as the long term effect of a delayed response?

 Not responding robustly now, will in the longer term cost Nigeria more, financially, materially, morally and certainly, in terms of human casualties.

We must seize the moment. From my humble policy perspective, besides the civil war period from 1967 to 1970, it can be envisaged that if and when COVID-19 hits Nigeria fully, the challenge and national mobilization required to respond adequately will require the replication of another civil war-situation capacity.

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