Nigeria’s Attitude to Covid-19 Remains Lackadaisical

Professor Oyewale Tomori has said Nigeria’s attitude to Covid-19 remains lackadaisical in nature and “still the same country that has made up its mind not to take things seriously.”

Tomori, a Professor of Virology was a guest on ARISE News where he gave an assessment of the federal government’s handling of COVID-19 in Nigeria.

“We are still the same lackadaisical country, we are still the same country that has made up its mind not to take things seriously. So right now, as we are seeing the problem is now scaling up.

“The so-called drop that we said we had was not really correct, but because we are testing less, therefore we are getting less. Now we cannot hide behind testing whether we test or not, we are seeing evidence of the cases. Secondary schools are opening and we are seeing reported cases in Lagos, in Kaduna, just got a report that some people in a correctional facility in Cross River have tested positive. So I think the deluge is coming and we better get ready,” he said.

He described Pfizer’s announcement on Monday that its Covid-19 shot appears to keep nine in 10 people from getting the disease as good news but says the choice of the vaccine to use will become an issue.

“I think (the Pfizer vaccine) is good news, but remember Pfizer was not the first, the Russians also brought out one and I think Moderna hopefully in another few days will bring some out.

“So there are three or four that within the next few months will be coming out, but then which one do we use become the issue. So in the next few months, we will get vaccines that will be approved hopefully for use, none of them so far have gotten the WHO approval but at least we know that the evidence we have of the virus is that the two that have been reported are safe and efficacious,” he noted.

Professor Tomori, as the Chairman, Expert Review Committee on COVID-19 complained that the majority of the advice given to the government has not been followed as they pick and choose which of the advice “suits their pockets.”

He said, “the implementation has always been the problem, it’s not that we don’t have plans, it’s what we do with the plans. Things are given out not for a specific purpose but because of the desire of either the government or the people, that’s where we have the problem.

“We give advice which nobody seems to follow, or they pick and choose inside the advice what suits them, let me say what suits their pockets. We don’t completely implement, we implement what suits us and benefits our pockets and not the nation.”

By Abel Ejikeme