Without sounding like an alarmist, the Nigerian government needs to do more in the fight against COVID-19 by increasing the country's testing capacity. Yesterday, while watching Channels TV, I was disturbingly pained to hear from one of the Presidential Task Force members on COVID-19 that we have so far tested around 3000 cases (or at best 5000 cases - my own overly optimist extrapolation).
If South Africa with an estimated population of 60m people has tested 80,085 cases (as of April 12) and Ghana 14,611 (as of April 9), then Nigeria needs to even do far more. What's stopping us from learning about how these two African countries have been able to scale-up testing capacity in a matter of weeks and adopt accordingly.

My fear is that if the government and concerned health policymakers in the country do not respond swiftly to this pandemic through expanding testing capacity across the country, community transmission could become highly prevalent and further compound the crisis. In fact, flattening the curve requires more testing (capacity) in addition to nudges/ moral suasion like social distancing and wearing of masks.

In the meantime, let us, as individuals and citizens of this potentially great country of ours, continue to support the effort of this government in the fight against COVID-19 and we shall overcome, especially if the right steps are proactively taken.

An important suggestion, aside the need to increase testing capacity, is for the government to shift the budgetary allocations meant for religious pilgrimage to the provision of relief materials to the most vulnerable in the society and especially those living in rural areas.

Similarly, the government should make available a bank account specifically for COVID-19 donations where ordinary Nigerians home and abroad can make their own (patriotic) contributions. For fear of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds, the proceeds and expenditures should be superintended by members of the civil society with verifiable track records, media personalities such as John Momoh (Channels TV) and Ahmed Isah (aka Ordinary President/Human Rights Radio & Television) along with the vice-president's office.

I can't end this short essay without expressing my deepest gratitude to those doctors, nurses, cleaners, waste-bin collectors, and similar others who continue to lead in the fight against this invisible war. Together, we shall overcome and hopefully the lessons learned in this crisis will refocus government attention on the need to invest adequately in the country's healthcare system, research and innovation, and education

if God