It was the thickest hour of the night when coronavirus crept into life in Wuhan. It roared like a bull on a prowl. It didn’t take time when it sneaked away more quietly than a mouse into and across the globe.
Shortly after, it became dreadfully frightening when it was reported that an Italian man had tested positive in Lagos, Nigeria. The Iroko trees in Oyo were creaking, the Baobab trees in Sokoto were cracking, the rocks in the hill of Mount Patti, Lokoja were shivering and the palm fronds in Nnewi were humming to themselves, ‘’may this virus never attack us.’’ Leaders across globe were wriggling at night as there was and still no known vaccine for this deadly virus.
On 30th April, 2020, the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has tested 15,759 samples with 2,388 cases and 85 deaths as at 3rd May,2020.
Kogi State is the only state in Nigeria which shares a boundary with ten other states; these include Federal Capital Territory, Nasarawa, Benue, Enugu, Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Niger State. If all the aforementioned states have coronavirus cases and Kogi is still not involved, then the Governor must be doing something right…
The question is what has he done to stifle the demon from gaining access to Kogi State?
In February when most states were still lumbering with coronavirus sensitization, The Commissioner of Information, Hon Fanwo Kingsley was already sensitizing the people, kicking a health ministry information campaign and a government strategy to tackle the virus.
On 23rd March,2020, the Governor directed the civil Servants to work from home and on 26th March, 2020 he closes all entry points into Kogi, people thoughts he was over-reacting.
He followed up on 9th April by banning all religious gatherings, schools, shops, restaurants, playgrounds and sports facilities, and many non- essential companies was shut to aid the cause. The lock down order have been strongly enforced even though there was political and economic pressure to return life to normal, he stood firm. Initially, most Kogites don’t understand why their shops would have to be shut. They were not looking at what was happening in New York, Italy or Spain where teeth were chattering and tears were rolling down cheeks of those who lost their loved ones. But today most people knew that the intervention of lock-down and other preventives measures by the Governor may have saved lives.
As quick as lightning, his video went viral when he was keeping fit in the gym and intensifying the need to build our immune system to prevent the virus. He should be commended for his leadership role he played to prevent the pandemic from gaining access to Kogi State up till date-3rd May, 2020. He is extremely well-informed… even before the first case by the Italian Man. But I think it mainly comes down to his thoughtfulness and ability to reassure the people of Kogi State that he is man of the people.
On 28th April, 2020, the commissioner for information & strategy said that Kogi state has built her self-assessment app hosted at kogicovid19.gov.ng. In line with NCDC checklist for suspected high and severe symptoms. This site has been visited nearly 200,000 times with over 14,000 completed self-assessments out of which only about 60 presented cause for further investigation which then failed to meet the COVID-19 spectrum.
It is absolutely right to point out that no states has adequate testing capacity compared to its population, so Kogi state is not an exception. In Lagos and Abuja for instance, the NCDC boss is saying, if the cases continued in great spirals, the number of bed spaces would be inadequate. More so health officials are getting overwhelmed. But today, the people of the state are happy that they have not recorded any case.
This script is not sure as 99 precedes 100 that coronavirus will not be recorded in Kogi State but we should amplify the efforts of Kogi State Government in curtailing the virus. Like a shell to a snail, the state has religiously followed all the NCDC and World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 advisories, both for identifying cases and preventing spread. It has also adhered strictly to the various guidelines from, and directives of, the federal government, customized to improve both efficiency and efficacy within the peculiarities of the state.
It is an open secret that the NCDC has an inadequate testing capacity, as most of the testing are directed to people reporting symptoms and people who are really vulnerable. Covid-19 is not a competition for state to be scrambling for the best position; rather, it is a common enemy that must be fought so that it could return to hell where it came from.
Is testing carried out in sufficient capacity in Kogi State?
Again, this is the primary responsibility of the NCDC in consonance with state Ministry of Health. An old axiom says, nothing comes out of the bag but what you put in it.
There are lesson we can learn from COVID-19, one that we must act proactively, we must meticulously trace chains of infection in order to interrupt them; these efforts we make us save lives. After the first Ebola outbreak, in 1976, no one can bet that history would repeat itself, but today we are talking about another pandemic that burst like a claps of thunder across nations. History therefore will always repeat itself in a distorted form, we must always prepare for it when it comes.
It is fact that different countries across the world have devised diverse strategies to timely detect, isolate and successfully manage cases. Therefore, there is urgent need for the NCDC to conduct more test as community transmission is now rampant particularly in Lagos and Kano.
While the effort of the Federal Government is commendable, care must be taken not to be caught in the web of the viral infection. A subsequent action plan has been announced by President Muhammadu Buhari, like the mandatory mask-wearing in public and limits on gatherings of people to 20. All these will enable a phased return to normal life after Lock down in most states in Nigeria.
As at 1st May, 2020 NCDC has tested about 16,000 people, a far cry to its capability. NCDC seem to follow a pattern of testing those with clear and severe symptoms. It is strongly advised that NCDC should scale up it testing capacity to gun down the flock of virus circling round the nations like a bee hummingbird.
Olusanya Anjorin,
Lagos.
+234 8032826650
