As the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, the efforts by the Nigerian gov­ernment under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to curtail the spread of the virus and treatment of affected persons has received plaudits of critical stakeholders, both locally and in the international community.

Leading the tribute is the World Health Organisation (WHO). The Director-General of the United Nations health agen­cy, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, in a tweet recognised the govern­ment’s effort on measures taken to contain the spread of the virus.

Ghebreyesus who noted that Ni­geria was swift and transparent in the manner it shared the sequence of coronavirus from the country’s first case, also thanked the Nige­ria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) for its efforts since the in­dex case of the virus was reported late February.

“This a true act of solidarity and an important step in stopping the coronavirus from spreading further,” he said.

Also last month, the United Na­tions Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres showered encomiums on the Nigerian government for han­dling the Coronavirus pandemic well.

Guterres while speaking at a virtual news briefing in New York, referred to Nigeria as a ‘de­veloping country’ that has “shown a remarkable capacity to respond to the coronavirus.”

“I have to say that some of these developing countries have shown remarkable capacity to respond. I was quite impressed to see, for instance, Nigeria putting in place immediately in a stadium and a hospital. And I saw difficulties in countries that are much more de­veloped to do quickly the same”.

With 2,388 confirmed cases, 385 discharged and 85 deaths as at May 2, many analysts believed that the Nigerian government has per­formed creditably well in its fight against the pandemic. They are also of the opinion that the Presi­dential Task Force on COVID-19, a 12-member task force established by President Muhammadu Bu­hari, chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha deserves ap­plause in the way it has marshaled out the agenda of the government in tackling the pandemic.

While announcing the compo­sition of the Task Force, Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Media and Publicity said “Given the cur­rent global outbreak of the novel Coronavirus and its potential of causing significant disruption to health services in the country as well as impacting negatively on the economy, President Buhari has established a Presidential Task Force for the Control of the Coro­navirus-19 Disease (COVID-19).’’

The statement announced Dr Sani Aliyu as the national coor­dinator of the committee, while other members are the minister of Health, Prof Osagie Ehani­re; Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika; Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Di­saster Management and Social Services, Sadiya Umar-Farouk; Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; Minister of Environ­ment, Mohammed Mahmoud; Director-general, Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi; Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC); Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu; and World Health Organisation Country Representative.

On why the committee was formed, Shehu said, “This action is in preparation for the unlikely but probable major outbreak of the disease in the country which will require a multi-sectoral in­ter-governmental approach as ad­vised by the World Health Organ­isation similar to that adopted for the HIV epidemic in the last two decades.”

So far, the committee which was given a mandate of six months to deliver on the assign­ment has left no stone unturned to achieve the goal of the Presi­dent by ensuring that the nation is pandemic free. Such efforts include massive sensitisation campaign in all the 774-local government in the country, the committee also recommended the restriction of entry into the coun­try for travellers from China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, United States, Norway, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland which are countries with over 1,000 cases domestically at that time as well restricting the issu­ance of visas from the countries and suspension on issuance of visa on arrival to travellers from the earlier named countries.

With donations from well-meaning Nigerians both in the public and private sector towards the fight against the pandemic, Mustapha said the Task Force in ensuring accountability will pub­lish full details of funds remitted and disbursed from the nation’s relief account.

Mustapha who said that an agreed arrangement with the Accountant General of the Fed­eration has been reached on the subject matter, added that in or­der to ensure accountability and transparency, the task force will not be directly involved in the collection and disbursement of the cash donations for COVID-19.

“The Accountant General of the Federation has already pub­lished the account details for col­lection through some commercial banks and also provided the mo­dalities for its utilisation. All the main COVID-19 accounts shall be domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria”.

“However, all non-cash dona­tions shall be duly received by the PTF, acknowledged, documented and appropriately deployed,” he said.

Speaking on the role of the National Assembly, Mustapha said there is a need for the law­makers to “Develop a legislative framework to prepare Nigeria for any future pandemic, develop a legislative framework for reform­ing and transforming Nigeria’s healthcare systems, strengthen the legislative framework for economic growth through do­mestic manufacturing, deepen the legislative oversight during this pandemic and beyond, pass legislations that will further ease the ability of the executive to cushion the impact of the economic decline and be part of community mobilization and en­lightenment efforts.’’

On the non-compliance by pri­vate medical facilities with the directive to seek accreditation before treating COVID-19 related cases, he said the highly infec­tious nature of COVID-19 if not well managed in purpose-built fa­cilities and specialists, pose a lot of danger not just to the medical staff in such hospitals but also to other patients and loved ones at home.

He, therefore, appealed strong­ly to operators of private medical facilities wishing to continue to treat COVID-19 cases to apply to the Federal Ministry of Health urgently, for accreditation.

While re-emphasising on the need for Nigerians to obey so­cial distancing practice, the SGF noted that private hospitals that want to be engaged in the man­agement and treatment of the disease are to be cleared by the relevant authorities before they can carry out such exercise.

The Boss Mustapha-led task force further won the admira­tion of Nigerians for its sinceri­ty when it apologised over viola­tions that took place during the burial of the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari a fortnight ago when many people who were uninvited turned out for the burial, thus violating so­cial distancing order.

“The PTF recognises, regret­tably, the unintentional violation of the principles and protocols that form the core of our mes­sage to Nigerians at the funeral of the late chief of staff. These principles, for emphasis, include the guidance provided on mass gatherings, social distancing, personal hygiene, and restric­tion of movement. Lessons have been learnt and appropriate mea­sures have been taken to close all gaps” a remorseful Mustapha said during one of the briefings of the Task Force.

Senate President Ahmad La­wan, few days ago applauded members of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 for their efforts in the management of the outbreak of Coronavirus in Nigeria. Lawan commended the Task Force for standing so firm to execute the assignment given to it.

“So I want to commend you for the work you have been doing. I want to also take this opportunity to commend the Nigerian medi­cal personnel” Lawan said.

Also speaking, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Chairman of the Pres­idential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) said the Boss Mustapha-led Task Force has done a great job so far especially given the enormous challenges Nigeria is facing.

According to Sagay “I must confess that I am very impressed with the performance of all our officials, especially the Presi­dential Task Force on COVID-19 during this pandemic. They have really done a great job in view of the challenges that we have”.

“One, we have scarce resourc­es, not only in materials and equipment but even in trained manpower. They have estab­lished a disciplined and organ­ised manner for dealing with the problem”.

“ They have also made a lot of sacrifice in daily planning and working to help us determine what the next step should be and also advising the President on what steps he should take in fighting the virus. I think they’ve done very well so far. I’m really impressed” .
https://www.independent.ng/covid-19-how-has-boss-mustapha-led-ptf-fared/

He is well respected.. He must be good at his job.

So I rate him above average

helinues:
He is well respected.. He must be good at his job.

So I rate him above average

Which above average? I give that man 5/100

How much donations have they received so far both in nairavsdollars? lol

He is doing well so far

But will advise them to improve on doing more test and get more testing kit

Garrieveryday:


Which above average? I give that man 5/100

Hahahahaha.. Then how would you rate Mr Lai?

if i sue you now for copyright abuse, dem go say i be bad pesin

bolaayenimo:
How much donations have they received so far both in nairavsdollars? lol

helinues:

Hahahahaha.. Then how would you rate Mr Lai?

Lai Lai is 0.000000001/100.
Lol

haba, the man steal your Covid 19 palliative?

Garrieveryday:


Lai Lai is 0.000000001/100.

Lol

Garrieveryday:


Lai Lai is 0.000000001/100.

Lol

Mr Lai said you are lying.....

Garrieveryday:


Which above average? I give that man 5/100

Because the Task Force commitee is not headed by an igboman abi? You seem to forget that the NCDC BOSS rolling out fictitious, horrific figures daily and causing pandemonium everywhere is an igbo Man? I wonder how much, governors pay him for each concorted figure added to the list. I wont be suprised if after the pandemic, the man in question becomes so stupendously rich that he starts owning his own fleets of tear rubber aircrafts and fly's his own airline.
He is receiving a substantial share of the monthly allocations from the 36states at the moment for states to remain Relevant In the covid19 National League, Dont you think?

They are trying @ least with the periodic update as regards how the states are faring with Coronavirus.

fear God oooo

Yanmiriflathead:


Because the Task Force commitee is not headed by an igboman abi? You seem to forget that the NCDC BOSS rolling out fictitious, horrific figures daily and causing pandemonium everywhere is an igbo Man? I wonder how much, governors pay him for each concorted figure added to the list. I wont be suprised if after the pandemic, the man in question becomes so stupendously rich that he starts owning his own fleets of tear rubber aircrafts and fly's his own airline.
He is receiving a substantial share of the monthly allocations from the 36states at the moment for states to remain Relevant In the covid19 National League, Dont you think?

I appreciate their apology on the mistakes at Abba Kyari's funeral

Paperwhite:
They are trying @ least with the periodic update as regards how the states are faring with Coronavirus.

Yanmiriflathead:


Because the Task Force commitee is not headed by an igboman abi? You seem to forget that the NCDC BOSS rolling out fictitious, horrific figures daily and causing pandemonium everywhere is an igbo Man? I wonder how much, governors pay him for each concorted figure added to the list. I wont be suprised if after the pandemic, the man in question becomes so stupendously rich that he starts owning his own fleets of tear rubber aircrafts and fly's his own airline.
He is receiving a substantial share of the monthly allocations from the 36states at the moment for states to remain Relevant In the covid19 National League, Dont you think?

If you are educated and reasonable enough, you oughtta have known that the Ncdc dies absolutely nothing without the knowledge of and reports directly to the presidential task force on Ncdc affairs chairman and secretary of the federation,Boss Mustafa. You hatred for the Igbos will never make you see beyond your nose.

Just a little peep at your posts, Igbo this Igbo that, shame.