By Suleiman Umaru
President Muhammadu Buhari is not a happy man. This is because of the rising cases of the Wuhan Town in the Hebei Province of the Asian country of China emerged coronavirus, popular COVID 19 in Nigeria.
Until April 8, 2020, when the Chinese medical experts arrived the country to support the government efforts to stop the spread of the disease, the country had fewer cases compared to the North African countries of Algeria and Morocco, which had had a good number of confirmed patients.
There are fears in both official and unofficial quarters that at the rate the number of infected patients are daily increasing , the country may soon hit the records of South Africa and Egypt, which top the table in the African Continent. At present, the big four have the highest number of infected patients in the Continent. Cyril Ramaphosa’s home country, South Africa, has 34,357 confirmed COVID 19, cases, ,Egypt, 26,384 , Nigeria 10,587 and Algeria,9513.
Boss Mustapha, the Presidential Task Force Chairman may have spoken the mind of the Katsina state born Nigerian President when he said that ‘’ despite the partnership with the organized private sector , injection of Resources, Collaboration with the International Community and the World Health Organisation. WHO, a health agency of the United Nations, the diseases has continued to spread in the country in different ways and the world in general. The situation, according to Presidential sources is giving him a cause for concern.
Aware of the Financial problem of the country, kristaliana Georgieva led International Monetary Fund, IMF, a Multi-lateral Financial Institution, last April had approved a $3.4 billion loan for the country at the instance of the government to help finance the 2020 budget because of the drop in oil prices in the International market and the adverse effects of the COVID 19 on the economy.
The president may have seen that the IMF loan would not be enough to finance the 2020 revised Fiscal budget and address the rising Coronavirus pandemic that he was said to requested the approval of the Lawan Ahmed led Senate and Femi Gbajabiamila led House of Representatives for an additional sourcing of $5.5billion loan.
He was said to have made the request to the National Assembly, acting on the advice of the country’s economic Management Team. The good news was that the All Progressive Congress, APC, controlled National Assembly leadership are ever ready to support the him to raise Funds from any source to finance the execution of projects in this trying and difficult times of the downturn of the economy as a result of the COVID 19.
This is evident going by the recent approval of the President’s request to borrow Foreign loans to the sum of #22. 79 The loan , according to a ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning sources was part of the government 2016 and 2018,external borrowing rolling plan laid before the House on March 5,2020 before the President’s fresh loan of $5.5 billion on May 28, 2020.
Recall that the APC controlled National Assembly had previously given the government the nod to borrow N800 billion from local sources.This may have given the Opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, the impression that the Buhari Administration is running the government on borrowed Foreign loans, in the guise of financing the revised 2020 budget and addressing the COVID 19 pandemic. The party noted that the loans are increasing the country’s debt burden, described by Financial experts as another form of slavery to multi-lateral Financial institutions.
The government appears to have made a bold Statement n addressing the pandemic . Mustapha, Chairman of the PTF, on COVID 19, had said that they took the initiative to solve the problems ‘’mitigating against the country’s health system that it is always being overwhelmed by a series of outbreaks by maximizing the non- Pharmaceutical Interventions, minimizing the negative and social effects of the non-pharmaceutical Interventions on the pandemic control and untilisation of data systems to assess risk, measure response performance and evaluate progress’’.
This is in addition to the ’’ application of non pharmaceutical Interventions in a measured and step-wise manner, using at least two weeks interval to identify adverse effects, narrowing the focus of non pharmaceutical Interventions with significant side effects’’
. He had cited business closures, stay at home orders to targeted states like Lagos, the nation’’s Commercial hub, Kano, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory and Ogun, because of its proximity to Lagos state.
The President was said to have approved development of systems based on the recommendations of the PTF, for the protection of the poor and the vulnerable groups in the country. Mustapha, the PTF boss, disclosed that they had devised the measures ’’ to ensure a cohesive , exhaustive and data-driven policy to guide the opening up of the economy’’.
While Buhari, is worried about the effects of the COVID 19 on the country and modernization of the nation’s health system and provision of Isolation centers for patients,, his counterparts, presidents Patrick Talon, Muhammadou Issoufou and Paul Biya of the Nigerianneighbouring countries of Benin Republic, Niger and the Central African country of Cameroon, respective appear to have less worry.
Take for instance, in Cameroon, Biya’s home country, which has only 6,397 confirmed cases of COVID 19 patients, Niger 958 cases or Benin, which the WHO said had only 243 infected patients as at June 2, 2020.
