₦airaland Forum

Ricchcream:
There is nothing slow about the pace abeg. The incubation period for the virus is 14 days, and if it had truly seeped into the Nigerian sphere to cause serious damage as our fears might want to have us project; the dense population and all, then, we should be having dead bodies scampered all over the place right now, so calm down, sit at home and sip tea.

However, as Lagos ramps up testing this week, I'm expecting scary figures. We might hit hundreds of thousands! (I hope not too). So yeah, testing testing testing, because undeniably, there is fire on the mountain. But, we have to know the size of the shit we are in, before cleaning up.

9jaRealist:
So the US has successfully “curtailed the spread” of Covid-19...
It would be rather ironic if you have a comprehension issue since that would be mediocre.
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9jaRealist:
Rather ironic, given the mediocrity of your Strawman Argument...
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9jaRealist:


Not even your darling Ghana is testing enough to “curtail the spread”...
Not even the world’s richest-ever country or other advanced countries - US, UK, France, Italy, Spain, etc.

Again, quit blathering on with your childish Strawman Argument...
Nobody is “celebrating” anything. My post merely noted that testing has been ramped-up, leading to a better picture.

PS: Again, if you insist on obdurately regurgitating childish drivel, then have it hoss. Sounds like you enjoy misery. SMH.
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9jaRealist:


Stuck on Strawman Arguments...

Point was/is (and will continue to be) that Nigeria has ramped-up testing...
It has gone from 0 labs at end-February to 12 labs in mid-April and counting.

It has gone from inability to test for Covid domestically to quadrupled capacity...
It is currently testing more samples daily than it previously did weekly a few weeks ago.

Doing BETTER is ALWAYS a good thing...
Perfection should never be the enemy of the good.
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Kinematics:
This is what they want in Rivers State.

Gov. Wike thank you very much!

9jaRealist:


You really live in the past...
Abegi try to catch up dude. SMH
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9jaRealist:
Why stop at Ghana? Why not add the UK and even the US? South Korea perhaps?! SMH

Point is that we are ramping up from a very low (in fact, non-existent) base, and that’s a GOOD thing...
There’s a well-worn saying that doing BETTER is ALWAYS a good thing, and perfection should never be the enemy of the good.

Anyway, this has become an increasingly tedious rigmarole...
If you are determined to remain CHAINED to the past, feel free to have at it Hoss. Time to move on to more productive discourse.
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9jaRealist:
You seem to think testing labs are like setting up beer parlors...
How many scientists and lab technicians did you train in molecular testing? SMH
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Makavelli25:
Words that start with consonant will take "a"
Words that start with vowels will take "an"

"A" is a vowel so "An Apple"
"B" is consonant so "A Ball"

Thats how it is

The person that typed that message didnt do english in school

The pronunciation is an Es Em Es. Not just whether it the Letter is a vowel or consonant. You have made me laugh today.

saaron:
Sponsors of boko haram now on the offensive after their foot soldiers were massacred by Chadian forces.
The deepest part of hell will be reserved for boko haram terrorist and their sponsors in Northern Nigeria.
ONE NIGERIA IS DEAD!

Arosam:
"Covid-19" this too shall pass.
Different times Diseases has plagued the world.
1. Prehistoric epidemic: Circa 3000 B.C.
2. Plague of Athens: 430 B.C
3. Antonine Plague: A.D. 165-180
4. Plague of Cyprian: A.D. 250-271
5. Plague of Justinian: A.D. 541-542
6. The Black Death: 1346-1353
7. Cocoliztli epidemic: 1545-1548
8. American Plagues: 16th century
9. Great Plague of London: 1665-1666
10. Great Plague of Marseille: 1720-1723
11. Russian plague: 1770-1772
12. Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic: 1793
13. Flu pandemic: 1889-1890
14. American polio epidemic: 1916
15. Spanish Flu: 1918-1920
16. Asian Flu: 1957-1958
17. AIDS pandemic and epidemic: 1981-present day
18. H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic: 2009-2010
19. West African Ebola epidemic: 2014-2016
20. Zika Virus epidemic: 2015-present day

majamajic:
Obama that did nothing for Africa as USA president , he didn't even visit Nigeria

https://cdn02.allafrica.com/download/pic/main/main/csiid/00241706:8895d56760bf92c065ba08f0b87f6806:arc614x376:w735:us1.jpg

To Build a Nation (Abuja)

ANALYSIS

Abuja — The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (Covid-19) epidemic presents a difficult and challenging time for the world and our country Nigeria. This crisis has security, social and economic dimensions, and we must now and in its aftermath fundamentally re-examine our patterns of thinking, acting, citizenship and leadership, and how this all translates into governance.

I commend the Federal Government of Nigeria and State Governments, as well as the Nigerian private sector, for their progressively gallant efforts to protect our citizens from the ravages of Covid-19. Much more, however, remains to be done, and we must recognize the underlying prior failures of leadership, governance and citizenship that have left us uniquely vulnerable.


Apart from the absence of healthcare infrastructure to handle large numbers of coronavirus patients should this become the case --as is likely – there is the unique challenge posed by widespread poverty. This is reflected in the large crowds of the urban poor in commercial cities such as Lagos, Kano, Onitsha and Aba, congested into tight spaces and seemingly oblivious to the requirement for social distance as they engage in their daily "hustle" for subsistence. This imperative of poverty is the greatest immediate threat to curtailing the spread of Covid-19 in Nigeria.

First, in addition to measures already taken, the Federal Government of Nigeria should shut down the whole country for one month, barring only existentially essential services.This is necessary in order to give more time for contact tracing, to reduce community spread of the disease, especially in urban slums and rural areas, import and deploy testing kits, and to deal with emergency treatments while it can still conceivably be handled. The Nigerian police and, if necessary, the Nigerian Army, should enforce this measure across the country.

Even in several economically advanced nations, compliance with shut-downs is a huge challenge, let alone in a country in which literacy and education levels are not what they should be. There also has to be much stronger communication about the coronavirus pandemic, and what citizens need to do, in local languages. Another reason for a complete, enforced shut-down is the failure of Nigerian citizens inherent in overzealous religion, where citizens continue to insist on gathering in large crowds in churches and mosques against public health advice. This tendency flies in the face of the World Health Organization's recent confirmation that Covid-19 is not only spread by physical contact through our hands touching our mouths, noses and eyes, but is also airborne for limited periods.

Second, what should we do about the loss of livelihood for our already poor and vulnerable people? Here is where our lack of fiscal savings and a real fund for the rainy day become truly painful. The budgets of federal and state governments must now be COMPLETELY re-programmed to focus on Covid-19 in 2020. With the exception of security and the payment of salaries, not much else should really matter now. We are at war with an invisible enemy. The N50 billion fund established by the Central Bank of Nigeria for families and small businesses will not be adequate to address the crisis if and when it escalates.

The fiscal authorities must plan and make provision for the subsistence funding of all extremely poor Nigerians and individual citizens, numbering approximately 100 million, for 30 days in this scenario. In a back-of-the-envelope calculation, if a sum of N20,000 were to be made available for every impoverished family to stock on food and supplies for a month in a Covid-19 total shutdown scenario, this would require an intervention of N2 trillion! Even the N10-trillion federal government budget for 2020 may not be able to carry this burden, since it is based on projections have turned out (as usual) to be unrealistic because of reliance on crude oil revenue and the absence of a broad base of domestic taxation. This would be possible, however, if the burden were to be split with state governments. Additionally, members of the National Assembly should donate 50% of their emoluments to this effort.

Third, as I have emphasized in recent interviews, the Covid-19 crisis has graphically exposed the failure of the federal and state governments to invest adequately in human capital – healthcare and education – as a priority. This is incompetent governance, pure and simple. Nothing is more fundamental than the health of Nigerians, which gets too little a portion of government budgets. Bearing in mind that Nigerian households in an already-impoverished population bear 70% of healthcare expenses out of pocket, the federal government must now urgently commence funding of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund with 1% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund as provided in the Nigerian Health Act (2014).

Fourth, our economy appears headed for a second recession in four years. The Covid-19 crisis further demonstrates the ludicrousness of the now-suspended plan to borrow $22.7 from foreign countries (mainly China) for "infrastructure". That plan should be cancelled completely. The Nigerian government will likely not be able to service (let alone repay) such debt in the next few years. We need urgent fiscal reforms immediately after the coronavirus crisis. Our economy must become truly diversified away from crude oil. The petrol subsidy needs to be removed and the fuel pump price deregulated, with savings from subsidy removal invested urgently in the health and education sectors. Foreign exchange reforms that truly incentivize a shift away from oil-dependency through increased manufacturing and export trade remain urgently needed.

The naira should be strategically and proactively devalued, and then align this move with appropriate fiscal and trade policy rather than, as is often the case, having devaluations forced on Nigerians with no accompanying policy reforms. The CBN should scrap its forex-access restrictions on the importation of over 40 items. Our fiscal authorities should instead impose high tariffs on items perceived as "luxury" or non-essential (and generate revenues from such tariffs), while industrial and trade policy should establish subsidies and other incentives for domestic manufacturers, especially those that can provide proof of export orders that will bring in hard currency and take advantage of the naira devaluation in the international market. If this approach is adopted, Nigeria will progressively wean itself from crude-oil revenue dependency. This is how a structural transformation of the Nigerian economy can happen. Political will, policy shifts and transparently administered market incentives, not rhetoric, are essential to achieve this goal.

Finally, Covid-19 in Nigeria is a disease imported and spread by the elite class. Unfortunately, rich and poor will bear its brunt. While we must have sympathy for any victim of Covid-19 regardless of social status, and many have contracted the virus through little personal fault, the irresponsible failure of some elite individuals to abide by public health protocols in recent weeks, hosting and attending birthday parties, declining to self-quarantine as circumstances require, as well as submitting false contact information following international airline travel, is noteworthy.

No one of us is immune from Covid-19, and we must remain even more vigilant. But we must not waste this crisis. We must learn and apply its important lessons as a country.

Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy g overnor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and professor at the Fletcher School of International Diplomacy, is c onvener of To Build a Nation (TBAN), a citizens movement for true democracy and good governance in Nigeria.

Arabiandude:
You are just going back to front, fooling yourself here. In your own field, I can bet you are not even regarded amongst 1,000 best in your locality, but you are here online acting like you know it all, even more than the Profs and experts presently managing this pandemic in Nigeria. Oga since testing is your problem, how many people have you helped fellow Nigerians to test since the government doesn't know what they are doing?

MERCHANDISER:
Western media has made everything non_western evil. We
need to sit down and look at it logically.
Nigeria has been struggling to fight BH for decade, US has
never shown any genuine support, infact, at a time they're
were technically supporting BH by blocking every
opportunity
to access weapons. Whereas, the same US has been
building sophisticated millitary bases all over Africa with
several billions of dollars even all over islands in Africa. In
a
continent struggling to provide as basic thing as clean
water,
road, edu, etc. In term of infrastructural development, US
hasnt built anything tangible anywhere in Africa despite her
big economy and influence.
On the other hand, China is building projects across Africa
from electricity to train to Airport, roads, scholarships to
Africans, etc even with their own money. Let's say we can't
pay and they take over them, who would still be using
those
infrastructure, Chinese? At least they brought them here, so
if we can't pay back and they take over them these things
would still be in use by Africans and improve quality of life,
just like every private business.
US/Trump that everyone is supporting call Africans all kinds
to unprintable names, visa ban, reporting weak sides of
African nations and continuously ridiculing everything we
do.
The list is long. China hasnt done any of these yet, western
media still find their ways into the hearts of Africans to
hate
Chinese. Sadly, enough some fake pastors joined this
brainwashed citizens.
Look at China, how many times have they tumbled African
govt? How many nations have China invaded in Africa?
How
many times has Chinese embassy criticize our local affairs?
Etc
New York started have underground train in 1809, that's
200yrs, they never extended such to Africa. China started
booming just 20yrs ago and they've extended everything
technology they have to us, that have improved our lives;
From phones, train, Good Airport, Naval ship, Telecom,
Roads, scholarships, etc
Africans must sitdown and think. China is not your enemy

komekn:
You cannot fight what you cannot see.

You are right that without testing and mitigating actions to limit and or treat infected persons. Then your ability to halt the virus is limited.

However, considering we don't have the capacity to do mass comprehensive testing. We probably never will.

Then PREVENTION is your best option and in this regard here lies our best strategy apart from prayer.

In addition boosting your immunity with what you eat and do.

Then using combination drugs for those who are affected and showing symptoms.

chrisooblog:
I'm not an expert but neither are you so how can you say with authority what would be adequate?

chrisooblog:
how do you know it's enough are you an expert in battling pandemic?

Danielnino00:
But we are carrying out testings...

How many compared to the population in the country?

chrisooblog:
that screenshot you posted do you know anambra beneficiaries received there's too? please there are many things to criticize this govt with not misinformation or half truth