Quote:The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, has decried the poor state of Nigeria’s healthcare infrastructure.

Mr Mustapha, who is also the chairman of the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on COVID-19, said he realised how bad it was, after he was appointed to head the team. He made this known during a meeting with the leadership of the national assembly on Thursday.

“I can tell you for sure, I never knew that our entire healthcare infrastructure was in the state in which it is. Until I was appointed to do this work,” he said.

While he noted that the pandemic has provided the opportunity to examine the state of the national health care systems which is in dire need of reforms and funding, he said the weaknesses in Nigeria’s health systems became more glaring given the way more established health systems in Europe and America collapsed under pressure.

He, however, assured that there are plans to lay a legacy foundation for the immediate, medium and long-term development of the health system in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic across the country.

To this end, he said, the taskforce has proposed to utilise the resources being mobilised in a “strategic manner.” This includes:

Direct development and delivery of critical infrastructure to states by donors; direct procurement and delivery of personal protective equipment and other critical equipment by donors; deployment of rapid response teams to states for capacity building and support; and expansion of the testing capacity in the country.

Mr Mustapha added that for transparency and accountability, the taskforce will not be directly involved in the collection and disbursement of the cash donations for COVID-19.

“The Accountant General of the Federation has already published the account details for collection through some commercial banks and also provided the modalities for its utilisation. All the main COVID-19 accounts shall be domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“However, all non-cash donations shall be duly received by the PTF, acknowledged, documented and appropriately deployed,” he said.

Tasks for national assembly

Mr Mustapha further explained that Nigeria, like the rest of the world, is at war against a dangerous enemy and all hands must be on deck to successfully prosecute the war.

To this end, he charged the national assembly to:

• Develop a legislative framework to prepare Nigeria for any future pandemic;

• Develop a legislative framework for reforming and transforming Nigeria’s healthcare systems;

• Strengthen the legislative framework for economic growth through domestic manufacturing;

• Deepen the legislative oversight during this pandemic and beyond;

• Pass legislations that will further ease the ability of the executive to cushion the impact of the economic decline and

• Be part of community mobilization and enlightenment efforts.

While applauding the taskforce for the work done so far, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, advised the team to have a better coordination of the donations received from public-spirited individuals, corporate bodies and Institutions to avoid duplications or the relevant bodies working at cross purposes.

Ahmad Lawan, President of the Senate
“First of all, you are supposed to be the custodian of all the challenges that we face as far as COVID-19 is concerned. If any state has a challenge, I am sure there is a proper structure and route for reporting, so that you take down the situation and take the necessary steps.

“I believe that we face one critical challenge today in our fight against COVID-19. We have donations made by various organisations, corporate bodies and so on but it is my candid opinion that there is no coordination.

“The Corporate Nigera, as I was told as at yesterday (Wednesday), has gathered N22 billion; the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), I was told had 28 million dollars; CBN and the banks, I don’t know how much they have. The National Assembly, the ministers and so many individuals and Institutions have also made donations,” he said.

He also suggested that donations should go to just one common platform as against multiple accounts.

“I believe we must have a central body and not the PTF nor the corporate groups should receive and manage the funds but based on what the constitution provides for.

“Where everybody is just collecting and spending, I think it will lead us in a very bad shape. When people contribute their funds, they want to see such funds properly utilised. They want to see efficiency. They want to see transparency. They want to see accountability and of course, probity in what the funds are used for.

“There could be duplication, working across purposes. At the end of the day, there will certainly be inefficiency in the application of such resources. But this meeting is going to give us opportunity to discuss this and the way forward.”

The meeting, he said, is aimed at ensuring that performance is improved and service delivery is effective and efficient.

President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the distribution of stimulus package to the most vulnerable during the lockdown. He had also ordered that impounded rice be distributed across the 36 states to cushion the effect of the pandemic.

The ministry of humanitarian affairs has since announced the distribution of the first tranche of five billion naira.

The number of confirmed cases in the country has been on the increase. As of 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, the NCDC announced a total of 288 cases including seven deaths.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/health/health-news/387036-i-never-knew-nigerias-healthcare-infrastructure-was-in-such-bad-state-sgf.html

Quote:“I can tell you for sure, I never knew that our entire healthcare infrastructure was in the state in which it is. Until I was appointed to do this work."

Quote:“Yesterday (Thursday), I mentioned at the National Assembly that I became fully aware of the state of our medical system during the execution of this Task Force assignment. It has become clear that this has been taken out of context.

“I must clarify that I am aware and has indeed been a champion for the reform and transformation of the health care system. However, this PTF assignment has afforded me the opportunity to dig deeper, interrogate and x-ray the system better.

“So for anyone to think that I didn’t know the level of deplorable state of our healthcare systems, is a complete misrepresentation.

“For the benefit of those who do not know me well, I come from rural Nigeria. I was born in a village almost 64 years ago that didn’t even have a hospital, it had small missionary dispensary probably with one midwife, no birth certificate was offered. So I don’t even have birth certificate, I have declaration of age.

“A lot of you sitting here are privileged to have been born in a better and more equipped medical facilities. So from birth I know the state of our medical, healthcare, I am not a foreigner.

“My statement was totally taken out of context because that was not the reflection of what I said. But having to serve in this committee gave me a further insight into what is happening.

“Most of the things you see around as specialists, hospitals or clinics, you just see the buildings, you don’t know what is inside. But, being in this committee has given me opportunity of walking into these facilities, looking at what they have in relation to what they ought to have, my conclusion on that is that they don’t have what they ought to have.

“I wanted to give this explanation so that most of you will not think I am an ajebota, no. I was born a rural Nigerian, I grew up in rural Nigeria, I went to school in rural Nigeria and I still live in rural Nigeria.

“Yola is my home, I’m just on a journey here in Abuja. At the end of my work or whatever I am doing here, I will return home which is rural Nigeria and I am going to live with the facilities in rural Nigeria.

“The truth of the matter is that this is not the time to be distracted with unnecessary controversies."