Nigeria COVID-19 And The Cynics
Okoro Oti
From Porthacourt
Over the years, the insincerity and ‘double mouthedness’ of the government in some national issues has made the citizens of the country not to believe anything the government says. Every information and announcement given by the government is viewed with doubt. People always look at it that there is a political motive behind everything the government says. The government in this case is just like the proverbial farmer who always shouts lion when there was no lion and when the real lion finally came, no one believed him again.
When the case of Covid-19 came up, many waved it aside that it was all politics. Ah, this government and its lies and politics again? Where did they see the Italian man? Who told them they man has the virus, and so on and so forth. Even when the index case was reported in Rivers State, many people dismissed it with a wave of the hand saying that the governor is using it as a political weapon to collect money from the government. Some even asked where the governor met the girl and how he knew where the girl came from. They forget that the governor does not need to meet the girl to know. The covid-19 team in the state reports to the governor. Also, the Rivers state government did not conduct the test. It was done by NCDC centre in Edo state and then sent the result of the test to Rivers State government and also posted an update on their web site. The Covid -19 team in Rivers state investigated the claim of NCDC and reported to the governor who then made a broadcast informing the citizens of the state how the index case came to be. Still, the cynics cried foul.
Also, the cynics claimed that the virus can never be in Nigeria. To these cynics, one wonders if Nigeria as a nation is in heaven where virus cannot penetrate or the Nigerian people are all immuned to the virus. They claim it cannot survive in Nigeria because of the heat in the country. These people can recall that W.H.O. has warned Africans (Nigeria inclusive) of the danger of a surge in the virus in the continent. W.H.O. has more information about the virus than these cynics who has little or no knowledge of the virus. If W.H.O. thinks the virus cannot survive in the country, they will not recommend or send aids to the country. They would have taken it elsewhere. Remember also that the Nigerian government is working in collaboration with W.H.O. who sends daily report to the world body. If the virus is not in the country as the cynics claim, W.H.O. would have blown the alarm, withdraw their covid -19 team from the country and recommend withdrawal of aids send to the country from local and international donors. Note that these people who donated billions and millions have more access to information than the cynics and would not have donated if they know of a foul play. Note that most of these donors are not politicians and stand to gain nothing from the government.
Also, these cynics should remember that in the early days of April, some foreign governments evacuated their citizens from Nigeria. If there is no virus in the country, they would not have done that being in a more vantage position to access news and information about the virus and its management in Nigeria than the cynics. These cynics should remember that these countries have more confirmed cases of covid -19 than Nigeria. If Nigeria is safe or in “heaven” as these cynics claim, then these countries would not have evacuated their citizens.
The question still remains why these countries should evacuate their citizens from a country with low confirmed cases of covid-19 to their countries with high cases and multiple deaths. Here are the possible answers to these questions
1. Nigeria as of 26th April, 2010 has tested about 10,000 people. Confirmed cases is 1273. This means in every 10 people tested,1 people will have the virus. This means that if 100,000 people were to be tested, 10,000 cases will be confirmed. If 1,000,000 will be tested, we may likely have about 100,000 cases. These countries saw these ahead of us.
2. Nigeria has no adequate healthcare services. In case of a health challenge, their citizens may not get good medical care. They better come home.
3. Nigerians don’t take things very serious, they continue to do things as usual and will not take the precautionary measures very serious and will most likely have a very high community transmission of the virus thereby endangering the health of their citizens. So the need to evacuate them early.
These reasons can go on and on and on.
Again, the cynics also ask when and how the government got the result of the confirmed cases. How come we get cases every now and then, when did they do the tests and so far and so on. They fail to understand that the NCDC collects samples every how from across the states, take them to the labs and conduct the tests and release the results after about one to two days of collection. They may release some in the night about 9.30pm and release the rest in the morning. The tests released in the morning were not tested that morning because the tests continue round the clock. They have stated hours to release the results of the tests. It will be improper to release the results every hour. W.H.O. and Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) believes that the number of confirmed cases in Nigeria will be higher than is released by NCDC. This is because they number of tests done in Nigeria is low. Note that Ghana has tested over 70,000 people. South Africa has tested about 100,000 people. This confirmed why there are more confirmed cases in these countries compared to Nigeria. Early detection prevents death. That is why the case to mortality rate in Nigeria (1273 cases with 40 deaths) is higher that Ghana (1550 cases with 11 deaths). Nigeria with less number of cases has recorded more deaths than Ghana with higher cases of the virus.
Some cynics claim that the government wants to inflate the number of cases to justify the huge amount they have collected from local and international donors. These cynics should note that the government has lost much more money in this pandemic than donors can ever donate. No one will throw away N100 because he wants to collect N10. Only a mad man does that and the Nigerian Government is not mad.
Instead of spreading false news and deceiving the people that there is little of no virus, these cynics should join the government in its effort towards ensuring that the preventive measured announced by W.H.O., NCDC and the various state and federal governments are adhered to strictly.
While we know that God is greater that this virus, we should not let down our guards. Let us keep on believing that God will protect us as we do our part in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
From Porthacourt
Over the years, the insincerity and ‘double mouthedness’ of the government in some national issues has made the citizens of the country not to believe anything the government says. Every information and announcement given by the government is viewed with doubt. People always look at it that there is a political motive behind everything the government says. The government in this case is just like the proverbial farmer who always shouts lion when there was no lion and when the real lion finally came, no one believed him again.
When the case of Covid-19 came up, many waved it aside that it was all politics. Ah, this government and its lies and politics again? Where did they see the Italian man? Who told them they man has the virus, and so on and so forth. Even when the index case was reported in Rivers State, many people dismissed it with a wave of the hand saying that the governor is using it as a political weapon to collect money from the government. Some even asked where the governor met the girl and how he knew where the girl came from. They forget that the governor does not need to meet the girl to know. The covid-19 team in the state reports to the governor. Also, the Rivers state government did not conduct the test. It was done by NCDC centre in Edo state and then sent the result of the test to Rivers State government and also posted an update on their web site. The Covid -19 team in Rivers state investigated the claim of NCDC and reported to the governor who then made a broadcast informing the citizens of the state how the index case came to be. Still, the cynics cried foul.
Also, the cynics claimed that the virus can never be in Nigeria. To these cynics, one wonders if Nigeria as a nation is in heaven where virus cannot penetrate or the Nigerian people are all immuned to the virus. They claim it cannot survive in Nigeria because of the heat in the country. These people can recall that W.H.O. has warned Africans (Nigeria inclusive) of the danger of a surge in the virus in the continent. W.H.O. has more information about the virus than these cynics who has little or no knowledge of the virus. If W.H.O. thinks the virus cannot survive in the country, they will not recommend or send aids to the country. They would have taken it elsewhere. Remember also that the Nigerian government is working in collaboration with W.H.O. who sends daily report to the world body. If the virus is not in the country as the cynics claim, W.H.O. would have blown the alarm, withdraw their covid -19 team from the country and recommend withdrawal of aids send to the country from local and international donors. Note that these people who donated billions and millions have more access to information than the cynics and would not have donated if they know of a foul play. Note that most of these donors are not politicians and stand to gain nothing from the government.
Also, these cynics should remember that in the early days of April, some foreign governments evacuated their citizens from Nigeria. If there is no virus in the country, they would not have done that being in a more vantage position to access news and information about the virus and its management in Nigeria than the cynics. These cynics should remember that these countries have more confirmed cases of covid -19 than Nigeria. If Nigeria is safe or in “heaven” as these cynics claim, then these countries would not have evacuated their citizens.
The question still remains why these countries should evacuate their citizens from a country with low confirmed cases of covid-19 to their countries with high cases and multiple deaths. Here are the possible answers to these questions
1. Nigeria as of 26th April, 2010 has tested about 10,000 people. Confirmed cases is 1273. This means in every 10 people tested,1 people will have the virus. This means that if 100,000 people were to be tested, 10,000 cases will be confirmed. If 1,000,000 will be tested, we may likely have about 100,000 cases. These countries saw these ahead of us.
2. Nigeria has no adequate healthcare services. In case of a health challenge, their citizens may not get good medical care. They better come home.
3. Nigerians don’t take things very serious, they continue to do things as usual and will not take the precautionary measures very serious and will most likely have a very high community transmission of the virus thereby endangering the health of their citizens. So the need to evacuate them early.
These reasons can go on and on and on.
Again, the cynics also ask when and how the government got the result of the confirmed cases. How come we get cases every now and then, when did they do the tests and so far and so on. They fail to understand that the NCDC collects samples every how from across the states, take them to the labs and conduct the tests and release the results after about one to two days of collection. They may release some in the night about 9.30pm and release the rest in the morning. The tests released in the morning were not tested that morning because the tests continue round the clock. They have stated hours to release the results of the tests. It will be improper to release the results every hour. W.H.O. and Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) believes that the number of confirmed cases in Nigeria will be higher than is released by NCDC. This is because they number of tests done in Nigeria is low. Note that Ghana has tested over 70,000 people. South Africa has tested about 100,000 people. This confirmed why there are more confirmed cases in these countries compared to Nigeria. Early detection prevents death. That is why the case to mortality rate in Nigeria (1273 cases with 40 deaths) is higher that Ghana (1550 cases with 11 deaths). Nigeria with less number of cases has recorded more deaths than Ghana with higher cases of the virus.
Some cynics claim that the government wants to inflate the number of cases to justify the huge amount they have collected from local and international donors. These cynics should note that the government has lost much more money in this pandemic than donors can ever donate. No one will throw away N100 because he wants to collect N10. Only a mad man does that and the Nigerian Government is not mad.
Instead of spreading false news and deceiving the people that there is little of no virus, these cynics should join the government in its effort towards ensuring that the preventive measured announced by W.H.O., NCDC and the various state and federal governments are adhered to strictly.
While we know that God is greater that this virus, we should not let down our guards. Let us keep on believing that God will protect us as we do our part in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
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