Our attention has been drawn to comments made on the 1st February,2021 by one Dr. Mukhtar Mohammed, the National Incident Manager of the Presidential Task Force on COVID 19, (‘PTF’) during the usual National update by the PTF on COVID 19 and related issues . In the said statement which has been given wide reportage in Newspapers such as Daily Trust, Thisday and others, and on social media, the said Mukhtar Mohammed speaking on behalf of the PTF, the PTF was said to have falsely claimed that “Kogi State has not been reporting at all- a state that is not testing at all is an absolute high risk for Nigerians to go there because there is no testing facility. If you fall sick, there is no isolation facility, and they don’t even acknowledge that the disease exists. So for that reason, epidemiologically, we put that state at the top of high risk state”.
It must be categorically stated that the above statement is rather unfortunate, unfair, callous, and unwarranted. The PTF occupies a position of public trust and at all times it is expected to display a high standard of candour, diligence, honesty, fairness and professionalism in carrying out her responsibilities. A Presidential Task Force charged with a duty related to the health and safety of citizens cannot trivialize such an assignment by engaging in fabrication of facts in the discharge of such duties.
Our relationship with the PTF has never been smooth because Kogi State had insisted that it takes samples together with PTF,in order to avoid being handed fictitious results.
NCDC spent over a month in Kogi State and series of tests were carried out under their supervision and all the results were negative. We never heard from them again; Only for the same PTF to come on National television to caste aspersion on us. It is clear that the agency has deviated from its responsibilities of which the Federal Government should consider its immediate disbandment.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Kogi State Government has never asserted that COVID-19 does not exist, rather,what it resisted and vehemently opposed at the early stage of the pandemic was the ascription of fictitious cases of COVID 19 to the State by the NCDC in a desperate bid suggestive of the existence of an agenda to record COVID 19 cases for Kogi State by all means possible.
Let it be known that the Kogi State Government was one of the first few States in Nigeria to acknowledge the presence of COVID 19 in Nigeria and took immediate steps to sensitize her Citizens on the scourge and the need to stay safe.Specifically, on the 23rd of March, 2020 the Kogi State Government directed its Civil Servants on Grade Level 1-13 to stay at home and work from home. Only Lagos State which had 28 of the 40 cases at the time had taken this measure only a day before (22nd March 2020).
Also, on the said 23rd of March 2020, the Kogi State Government constituted and inaugurated a‘Squadron’ made up of 29 members including health professionals and other members. The Squadron was charged with the responsibility of ensuring the prevention and or containment of the Corona Virus and Lassa fever,etc.The Kogi State Government also in those early days procured face masks which it distributed free of charge to her citizens to prevent the scourge. One therefore wonders how the PTF came to the ridiculous conclusion that the State does not acknowledge that the disease exists. It should be noted that the Kogi State Government’s insistence that the panacea for the pandemic was an admixture of science, common sense, medicine and governance; should not by any means be falsely interpreted as a denial of the existence of the virus but a call for Government at all levels to prevent its citizens from being plunged into extreme poverty and hunger and its economy damaged by the implementation of imported strategies at fighting the virus. In this regard, Kogi State deserves commendation rather than condemnation.
On the spurious allegation that the State does not have testing facilities and isolation centres, it is on record that the Kogi State Government has at various times purchased Rapid Test Kits with which it has carried out thousands of tests on her Citizens. The Kogi State Government continues to provide testing services to both symptomatic and asymptomatic persons who have been recommended for tests by health practitioners in Kogi State. With respect to isolation centres, the State Government has standard and fully equipped isolation centres in strategic locations in Kogi State ready for use by patients.Rather than request to see these centres, or verify the facts regarding isolation centres from the Kogi State Government, the PTF prefers to join the bandwagon of fake news purveyors to dish out falsehood about the Kogi State Government and her efforts as it pertains to COVID 19.In its bid to do mischief and perpetuate lies and false impressions, the PTF failed to acknowledge the hundreds of samples which had been submitted to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for test and all of which came back negative. This strange conduct on the part of the PTF is at variance with the good intention of Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) who set up the PTF in the best interest of the Country. The PTF has unfortunately betrayed the lofty intention of Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) and the good people of this Country.
In a most brazen, illegal and highly irresponsible manner, the PTF proceeded to classify or declare Kogi State as a COVID 19 ‘high risk State’ advising Nigerians not to visit the State. The Kogi State Government wishes to State that it does not lie in the mouth of members of the PTF nor is it within the confines of the PTF’s powers to declare a State a high-risk State.That decision is the absolute prerogative of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or the Governor of Kogi State by virtue of Sections 2 and 8 of the Quarantine Act, 1926.It also must be noted that such a decision to declare a State or an area a high-risk area is not a political decision rather,it is a decision rooted in science and derived from empirical evidence which is totally lacking in the instant case.
Our data in Kogi State shows no strange death pattern or the number of deaths in 2020 compared with 2019 and 2018.We therefore urge the PTF to desist from their antics of labelling and attributing every death in Nigeria to Covid 19.
Kogi State is the first State to commence State – wide awareness and sensitisation campaign before the first incident of Covid-19 was reported in Nigeria on 27th February, 2020, leveraging on the existing Lassa fever structure on ground. The believe in many quarters then was that the disease would not get to Nigeria, but we chose to be proactive.
The need for rapid test kits, decentralisation of testing to all public facilities, development of risk assessment app, which has also been adopted by the Federal Ministry of Health, development of State independent Covid 19 prevention, control and treatment protocol tailored to the peculiarities and uniqueness of the State, while others were in a rush to import foreign protocol that was not suitable in our settings, and which backfired; Were commendable measures taken by the State which is in line with the Quarantine Act, that require States to take such measures in matters of public health, as their peculiarities dictate. The Kogi State Government developed a molecular laboratory using Genexpert Technology in Kogi State Specialist Hospital Lokoja which was validated by NCDC. This was achieved in collaboration with CDC America. Also, the Government equipped and designated an existing Health facility as a functional Infectious disease Centre named “Confluence Centre for Infectious Diseases”. Similarly, the construction of 2 Ultra-modern Infectious Disease Centres in Kogi and Ajaokuta LGAs is ongoing, yet the PTF never for once commend or acknowledged these efforts. The PTF is rather interested in unilaterally manipulating the entire process to suit their sinister motives.
