COVID-19: Nigeria never expected something worse than Ebola, says Lai

Lai Mohammed, minister of information, says Nigeria never expected a situation worse than Ebola.

Mohammed, who spoke when he featured on a forum organised by the News Agency of Nigeria, said he hopes the country will not “fall into the same error” after it surmounted the Ebola outbreak in 2014.

He expressed optimism that the government would use the experience gained from combating coronavirus to further develop the health facilities in the nation.

“We pray sincerely that we will not fall into the same error after we fought Ebola, and we relaxed, ” he said.

“We intend to use the opportunity of this coronavirus to improve our health care system at the federal, states and local government levels.

“Nobody ever thought that what is worse than Ebola will come. The successes we have achieved so far is through technology, sharing data with WHO, US Centre for Disease Control.”

Mohammed added that the federal government has asked governors to provide, at least, a 300-bed space facility in their respective states “in case of upsurge in the novel coronavirus pandemic spreading across the country”.

He said the facilities would serve as isolation centres and intensive care units for COVID-19 patients.

He said while testing for the virus is centralised, it would be difficult to move people that test positive across states.

“The governors must not wait for a deluge of patients before making the preparation, ” he said.

“We are not asking them to build hospitals, but if they have facilities that can be converted such as hotels, conference centres, let us know and we will come and accredit them. We will tell them what equipment they would need and what type of training we are going to give as support,”

The minister said the task force has so far received cooperation from the states in the fight against the disease, assuring Nigerians that the federal government would continue to take the lead and set the right policies.