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Covid 19: Voluntary Service Initiatives needed to fight the pandemic – DG, PGF, Lukman

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The Director General, Progressive Governors Forum, PGF Salihu Mohammed Lukman has said that the war against Covid-19 requires that Nigerians must come up with voluntary initiatives to tackle the pandemic rather than seeing it as government problem.

In a statement on Friday, the DG said Nigerians do not have the luxury of condemning government efforts without coming up with solutions to how best the scourge can be checked, noting that a combination of citizens and government initiatives will achieve positive results.
He said, “the earlier we appreciate that it is either we support government to win the Covid-19 battle now or we simply just create a situation where government initiative remain weak and to the extent of such weakness, we all become endangered indiscriminately.
“Government, civil society and union leaders and members will be as vulnerable as any ordinary citizen. The time to act is now. We don’t have the luxury of imagining that this is a problem for government. It is a problem for everyone!”
Taking a cue from the devastating effect of the virus in some develop nation like United States and Italy even with all the resources available to them, Lukman said, “for us in Nigeria, it is far more serious given citizen’s mindset that the Covid-19 challenge is a problem that government must address. Most commentaries in our media is largely about evaluating what government is doing or not doing. Even where government is able to respond positively based on what may appear to be agitating the minds of Nigerians as is the case with social distancing and lockdown, efforts by government to enforce compliance gets heavily criticised.
“We need to appeal to every person resident in Nigeria, both Nigerians and non-Nigerians, that tackling the challenge of Covid-19 require very good synergy of initiatives between government and citizens. If advanced countries like US, Italy, France, Spain, UK, etc. are battling the virus with devasting consequences, it should be clear to us that the challenge is beyond infrastructural capacities such as hospitals, doctors, medical personnel, drugs, equipment, etc. Yes, capacity is very much required but given the speed with which Covid-19 spread across the population, ability of governments to develop the needed capacity will be overwhelming. Therefore, the current attitude of many Nigerians focusing on lamenting the state of health sector and what could appear to be the inhuman disposition that celebrate the unfortunate high-profile cases of Covid-19 positive cases in the country is misplaced and dangerous.
“By all means, we can criticise our governments and our leaders, but we need to do that by demonstrating our commitment to contribute to the fight against Covid-19 through clear actions, recommendations and initiatives to mobilise citizens to also play their roles. Noting for instance that the US government at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis was reported to have mobilised $1 trillion, and yet this did not arrest the spread of Covid-19 in the US such that today it is the epicenter with 85,498 infected Americans and death of 1,308, the dangers facing us should be clear to all of us. Similarly, the UK government mobilised more than £300 billion. Yet, number of infected persons in UK is now 11,658, which include Prince Charles and the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, with 578 deaths and still counting.
“Just yesterday, Thursday, March 26, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari announced the release of N10 billion to Lagos State, which is our national epicenter with 31 of the 65 reported cases, accounting for almost 50% of cases. The President also announced the release of additional N5 billion to Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Without any doubt, governments at all levels are clearly alert to the challenges that lie ahead and are doing the best they can in the circumstances within their limited capacity. Unfortunately, citizens have predominantly reduced their support or engagement towards tackling the challenges of Covid-19 to issuing statements either in response or expectation of what government should do.
“As Nigerians, we need to appreciate the enormity of the Covid-19 challenge. NCDC, team of medical personnel, Federal and State governments are doing excellently well to have so far kept death arising from Covid-19 in Nigeria to 1 out of 65. This is quite commendable. The fact that reported cases is 65 should not be the basis for celebration. This is because since the discovery of the index case in Lagos about two weeks ago, less than 300 people have been tested. This is largely the case due to issues that may not be unconnected to availability of testing equipment, which the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire pointed out that it has to conform with the standards provided by World Health Organisation (WHO).
“Problem of availability of testing equipment is not just a Nigerian issue. It is a problem all over the world, which has necessitated that even patients with advanced symptoms in US and Europe have to go through some cuing to get tested. As a result, there are reported cases of deaths of infected persons waiting to be tested. It is possible that Alh. Aliko Dangote had this in mind when recently he appealed to Nigerian government to allow hospitals to conduct the tests.
“Allowing hospitals to conduct the tests could be helpful to the extent that they are able to procure the right equipment. Beyond procuring the right equipment, there are conditions, which the hospitals should meet to be able to carryout the test. This will include having all the spaces and facilities required to treat positive cases. How do we ensure all these are mobilised within a very short time, in fact in matters of hours given the urgency Covid-19 challenges require? This will be a function of how citizens and government are able to work together.
“So far, the corporate community and wealthy Nigerians are impressively rising to this challenge. We hear of UBA contributing N5 billion, NNPC $30 million (more than N11 billion), Alh. Abdulsamad Rabiu, Chairman of BUA Group N1 billion, Alh. Aliko Dangote N200 million, Alh. Atiku Abubakar N50 million, to mention just few. In addition, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has just set up a Covid-19 Committee to mobilise funds and members of the Committee are asked to contribute N1 billion each. How all these donations are directed and coordinated to tackle Covid-19 in the country is not that of government and our political leaders alone.
“Maybe it needs to be stated unambiguously, the fight against Covid-19, from all the evidences will only be won by combinations governments’ and citizens’ initiatives. Where are our civil society leaders with all the claimed selfless services and international networks around issues of health and welfare services? This is the time to showcase those competencies and networks by joining all the taskforces setup by the federal and state governments to mobilise complimentary initiatives.”
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