Coronavirus: Countries we are looking up to for assistance also facing challenges, says FG

The federal government says many of the countries it is hoping will help Nigeria fight the coronavirus pandemic are also facing challenges.

During a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, however, said the countries are still “cooperating”.

He said Nigeria is learning measures being used to combat COVID-19, and is also in touch with those that could assist with the tools it lacks to combat the infection.

“We are in touch with foreign countries and learning from them … we are also engaging countries on some equipment that we don’t have,” Onyeama said.

“As you know we are very short on ventilators. So we have engaged a lot of countries and we hoping to source some.

“But of course a lot of countries we are looking unto for assistance are also facing huge challenges themselves but nevertheless are cooperating with us.”

The minister also said some countries which have been able to mange the pandemic are “offering medical doctors”, adding that such kind of support “will absolutely be invaluable for us.”

“We also saw some situations where some countries also helped us in facilitating airlift to bring back some Nigerian resources to come and help in this fight,” he said.

As of 8pm on Tuesday, Nigeria had 139 cases of COVID-19, with two people dead from the complications of COVID-19.