It is already past a year that the deadly Covid-19 pandemic sets its foot in the nation’s capital, Abuja. In this report ABDULLAHI MUHAMMAD writes on how the administration stepped up measures at nipping it in the bud.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Lagos and Ogun states were the first few states to be hit by the rampaging COVID-19 virus early in March 2020.
In the case of Lagos, an Italian who had come in from outside the country was said to have tested positive to the corona virus. His contact in Ogun state which has very close proximity to Lagos also tested positive. This was followed by the FCT where a positive case was confirmed on March 21, 2020.Based on the advice of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 and to ensure that the disease does not go out of control, the federal government, on March 29, 2020 declared a total lockdown in the FCT and the other two states.
The federal government also directed that schools, religious institutions, markets for non-essential services, recreational centres, among others, should remain shut for an initial period of two weeks.
This lockdown directive by the government set the stage for what would later become a long-drawn battle to contain and curtail the spread of the novel corona virus.
How the FCT tackled it
Drawing inspiration from the PTF as well as having monitored the situation in China and the various measures adopted by other countries to tackle the pandemic, the FCT administration, headed by the minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello and the minister of state, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu set up internal mechanisms to contain and curtail the spread of the deadly virus in the territory.With the benefit of hindsight coupled with sound and pragmatic leadership style, the FCTA introduced measures that also reflected local realities. All of these were done to ensure that the response to the pandemic is guided, systemic and professional.
Modibbo-led committee
Among the pragmatic steps taken by the FCTA was the setting up of the Ministerial Expert Advisory Task Team on COVID-19, comprising private sector stakeholders and headed by a former minister of the territory in the person of Dr Aliyu Modibbo. The team was tasked with the responsibility of harnessing private sector support and efforts towards defeating the deadly virus. Specifically, the team was mandated to rally wealthy individuals and organisations to provide medical, financial and other material support in cushioning the effect of the pandemic in the territory.Under the initiative of the Ministerial Advisory Committee of private sector stakeholders in the FCT, a tripartite partnership between the government, the organised private sector as well as other major stakeholders in the Abuja project was evolved.Putting some existing facilities into use
Working together with stakeholders, like the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC), the elegant five storey IDU train facility (Training Centre) was outfitted to accommodate an initial 300 beds and later expanded to 400 to be used as an isolation and treatment centre. The Asokoro General Hospital and the Karu Hospitals were also renovated and re-equipped for this purpose.The Karu General Hospital, in particular, was renovated to cater for three levels of patients; those coming for general testing and identification, those that require to be quarantined, those who would require intensive care, for which a 17 bed section was made available and equipped with all the needed facilities including ventilators.In addition to these isolation and treatment centres, the FCTA also worked very closely with the University Teaching Hospital at Gwgwalada to expand the capacity of the isolation and treatment centre at that location so that it would be able to accommodate more patients. The Zuba General Hospital was also set aside for possible conversion into an isolation and treatment centre to be able to accommodate more patients, should the need arise.
We didn’t want to be overwhelmed – Minister
The wisdom behind these efforts, Bello explained at the time, was to ensure that the FCT is not overwhelmed by any spike in the number of infected persons. According to the minister, “The most dangerous stage of the disease is the one that requires all the expert facilities to be available. So, as much as possible we are using support from all the other agencies to make sure that wherever people are going to be isolated and treated would be well suitable for that and I can assure you that the external community would be well protected.”The FCT Ministerial Advisory Committee was also able to get on board several other private sector organisations apart from the CCECC to provide further support in the fight against COVID-19. Some of these include the FATE Foundation, Polaris Bank, Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, Binani Group, among others, who were all rallied to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), monitoring machines, furniture and air conditioners and power generators at the IDU 400 bed facility.
The combined efforts of the ministerial committee, the FCTA and private sector organisations helped to boost FCT’s isolation and treatment centres and increased the number of bed spaces.Cash donations and other relief materials were also received from this group to cushion the effect of the deadly virus in the FCT.
Deployment of medical personnel and adhoc staff
As if all was not enough to man the isolation and treatment centres, the FCT administration in collaboration with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other health organisations trained and deployed hundreds of health workers, including doctors, nurses on tactical and operational response to the virus.Also, hundreds of ad-hoc staff were recruited to man the call centres as well as support the FCT’s testing and tracing efforts.Special remuneration packages were set aside to motivate this category of workers to ensure that their morale remained high as first responders to the deadly covid-19 pandemic. They were also provided with protective kits (PPEs) in line with international standards.
