It is trite to ask: “What If There is no Covid-19”?. Of course this question lacks freshness precisely because we are into the 7th month of the global pandemic. The world (possibly, minus ever denying Bolsonaro’s Brazil and Donald Trump’s (USA) is braving up for the second wave of the notorious pandemic. According to NCDC by the weekend, Nigeria “had recorded 661 new cases, raising tally to 19,808, discharges 6,718, deaths 506: Lagos ..the highest number of 230, followed by Rivers-127, Delta-83, FCT-60, Oyo-51, Edo-31, Bayelsa-27, Kaduna-25, Plateau-13, Ondo-6, Nasarawa-3, Ekiti-2, Kano-2, Borno-1.” The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha had even raised the noise level of the Virus spread. And with attendant hysteria too! According to him “the country might start to count bodies in their hundreds in the next three weeks following the spread of coronavirus in the country.” With an alarmist Presidential Task Force (PTF) Chairman like big Uncle Boss Mustapha, it’s purely academic to ask “What If There is no Civid-19? The plague is already leading humanity to mass graves with survivors in captivity of face masks and mobile sanitizers. And that is the issue! My interest in national and global response to Covid-19 is purely academic. 1999 constitution with all its limitations, underlines the importance of public health, safety and and public welfare for nation building. Section 14 (1) of the Chapter II dealing with the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy says (b) the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government: and that (c) the health, safety and welfare of all persons in employment are safeguarded and not endangered or abused; d) there are adequate medical and health facilities for all persons:
Section 17 envisages that the National Assembly may make laws for the Federation or any part thereof with respect to –
(a) the health, safety and welfare of persons employed to work in factories, offices or other premises or in inter-State transportation and commerce including the training, supervision and qualification of such persons;”
In addition, the “Right to life” is alluded to 18 times in the constitution. Are we then saying that without COVID: 19, our concerns about right to life and public health would remain scandalously muted as it had been for decades? Better still, What If There is no Covid-19, couldn’t we be alarmed that Nigeria records over 300,000 deaths per year due to Malaria which unlike Covid-19 has a cure? There are recorded confirmed 9 million Coronavirus cases globally. This pales into insignificance compared to an estimated 100 million malaria cases annually in Nigeria. In numbers we should be talking of Malaria pandemic no less than Coronavirus epidemic. Of course it not yet Africa’ world. Indeed Malaria reportedly contributes to an estimated 11% of maternal mortality in Nigeria. There are so far 500, 000 COVID-19 related deaths globally. Nigeria records as many as 215,000 deaths per year from HIV/AIDS, half of COVID-19 fatalities. There have been 7000 reported recovery cases of Coronavirus in Nigeria, can NCDC avail the data about how many malaria and HIV/AIDS recoveries? Whence the Presidential Task Forces on Malaria and HIV/AIDS? Talking about the right to life, according to 2018 Global Status Report on Road Safety, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated road traffic fatalities in Nigeria at 39,802, while the estimated rate per 100,000 deaths stood at 21.4. Whence the lock down, sorry knock down on avoidable human “accidental” hemorrhage? The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) reported last year that an average of about 12 people died daily last year due to recorded 8,527 road traffic crashes (RTC) across the country. What massive graves “swallow” these Nigerians compared to mass graves that await the Covid 19 victims as hysterical Boss Mustapha raised an alarm? Don’t get me wrong! It is not Covid 19 deaths versus Malaria and HIV/AIDS deaths. Death expectancy ( assuming there is anything like that ) is not divisible. Certainly the drafters of the 1999 constitution envisage all inclusive public health and safety from malaria as much as from a global pandemic. It is good that Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, his exposure at PTF “has given him a better opportunity to champion reform and transformation of the Nigeria health system”. Time to work the new reform cause. It is commendable that CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had commendably announced a N100 billion healthcare intervention fund following the outbreak of the Virus under his strategic vision of “Turning the tragedy of the pandemic into opportunities”. For those who care, CBN governor had long seen tomorrow well before COVID: 19. In promoting import substitution through development financing, CBN removed some 42 imported goods from the list of items valid for Forex Exchange in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market according to which, “importers who import these goods can no longer buy foreign currencies from the official windows (CBN, Commercial banks) to pay their suppliers abroad. Rather, they will have to look for forex (dollars, pounds etc.) from the parallel market or Bureau De change to pay for their imported goods” .
CBN’s credit support facility for the health sector will definitely help pharmaceutical companies and healthcare to expand and build capacity for all times and for all diseases not just COVID: 19. We don’t need a pandemic to put an end to local health challenges whose impact in terms of lives and livelihoods are even more devastating. We must certainly think and global but equally act and think local too starting with prioritizing our local health challenges. Emefiele puts it better (and I agree): “I believe we must now envision and work towards a Nigeria with the cutting edge medical facilities to provide world-class care to the sick and vulnerable, enable our universities and research institutions to provide the requisite education and training that is required to keep these ecosystems functioning sustainably and efficiently, and millions of Nigerians employed in meaningful and well-paying jobs. This is the Nigeria that we must aspire to build.”
Issa Aremu mni.
