All over the world, the war against coronavirus (COVID-19) is frontally led and coordinated at the national level. This is also the case with Nigeria where the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF on COVID-19) is leading the war in order to ensure a coordination of a ‘single set of national strategic objectives’, as required by its mandate.
The PTF on COVID-19 which was established on 9 March 2020, is now three months old, and to its credit, it is still operating with strong drive, verve and commitment. In May while celebrating the two months existence of PTF (in a three-part series), this column made the point that a task force by its nature and design, stands the risk of losing its initial drive and verve if it exists for too long. It is gladdening to note that the PTF on COVID-19 is still operating with its initial verve and commitment since three months ago.
At present, Nigeria is implementing the various guidelines under the Phase 1 of Easing of Lockdown which was first extended for two weeks (May 18 – June 1, 2020), and then extended for the second time for one month (June 2 – June 29, 2020), which is presently ongoing. Looking ahead in this crucial fight, the PTF chairman, Mr. Boss Mustapha, during a national briefing on 2 June 2020, re-emphasised that “as the PTF focuses on community engagement and risk communication…State Governments now have the responsibility to shape and drive the process”. He had earlier urged all sub-national entities (state and local governments) which have been collaborating with the PTF “to expeditiously factor the guidelines on the easing of the lockdown into their decisions and resultant protocols that would be agreed to”.
Mr. Mustapha also urged governments at sub-national levels “to strengthen their enforcement and monitoring mechanisms so as to ensure that the desired results are achieved”. In all of these admonitions, the Federal Government plays a major role in assisting the states and local governments through the PTF and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). This is in consonance with the mandate of the PTF which requires it inter alia to “provide recommendations for the provision of direct funding and technical support to states and local governments to strengthen their preparedness capacity and mobilise human, material and financial resources from within and outside the country for effective national and state-level preparedness”. (See https://statehouse.gov.ng/covid19/objectives/). For example, as at the last time we checked this June, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has activated a total of 30 laboratories for the testing of COVID-19 across the states in Nigeria. This is a major achievement judged against the background of a few number of laboratories that existed at the time the COVID-19 index case was recorded in Lagos on 27 February 2020.
Furthermore, during the same national briefing on June 2, the Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire, while elaborating on further collaboration with sub-national governments, revealed that his Ministry was working with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, to finalise plans on engagement of existing community volunteers and agents to conduct house-to-house sensitisation on COVID-19 at community level, especially in high burden Local Government areas of Nigeria, since about 20 LGAs contribute nearly 60% of our COVID-19 positive cases. Again, he said that “states are at varying levels of readiness and it is important to re-strategise to meet all citizens at their points of need. This includes the decentralisation that requires making a minimum of 300 Isolation beds ready, so that the national health system does not run out of COVID-19 bed spaces” .
More importantly, the minister rightly captured the expectations from everyone at this stage of the easing of the lockdown restrictions when he said: “as we move into the next phase of easing of the lockdown”, everyone is expected to urgently “take responsibility for ensuring that we actively play our role in ensuring that COVID-19 does not spike or bounce up, as has been observed in many countries where lockdown was relaxed”. It is important, he further said, “to bear in mind that this phase, more than the lockdown itself, is in the hands of the people, more than in the hand of government. We must fight the spread of the disease by adhering more strictly than ever, to the various social guidelines which have been announced, published and publicised”. So far, the efforts of the Federal Government to provide support to governments at sub-national levels in the fight against COVID-19, is very encouraging and only needs to be sustained. But what about the efforts made at the sub-national levels, particularly at the state government level?
Consequently, we can assess how the fight against COVID-19 is progressing at the sub-national levels against the background of the Federal Government, efforts the skeleton of which was highlighted above. The first relevant question to ask is: how serious did the states take the fight against COVID-19 after the index case was reported in Nigeria? Secondly, does the verve existing at the federal level in the fight against the virus, exist also at the sub-national levels particularly at the state government level? And lastly, how far are the states and local governments cooperating with the Federal Government in this fight? These and some other questions will engage the attention of the second part of this article by the special grace of God.
•Prof. Isaac N. Obasi, a public policy expert (& former columnist in the Daily Trust, Abuja, March 2003 to October 2006, & Daily Champion, Lagos, April 2005 to December 2008), is of the Department of Public Administration, University of Abuja. Email: nnamdizik@gmail.com