international approach will mitigate the devastating effect of COVID-19,
while assuring that the Federal Government will intensify efforts to
monitor, test and isolate more people, especially at the community
level.
President Buhari, who participated in a virtual Summit of Heads of State
and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), said national,
regional and global strategies would be required to tackle the pandemic,
which, he said, had ravaged humanity and caused unprecedented
devastation to the well-being of people, their livelihoods, and global
economy.
“The theme of this extra-ordinary Summit ‘United Against COVID-19
Pandemic,’ aptly reflects the importance for a proactive approach and
the need for multilateral cooperation in finding quick solutions to the
challenges that COVID-19 pandemic poses to our nations.
“Since the outbreak of the disease, countries have made concerted
efforts to limit the spread of the pandemic within and outside their
borders as well as treating those infected by the virus.
“Two weeks ago, we in West Africa came together to work out a common
sub-regional response to the crisis. The summit appointed me the
Champion to lead our efforts on fighting the pandemic in our region.”
The President said the task before the international community remains
daunting, and more needs to be done to reduce the impact of COVID-19.
According to him, “It is now clearly evident that no nation can
independently and singlehandedly tackle a pandemic of this nature which
is no respecter of borders, regions or status.
“Invariably, enhancing multilateral cooperation through exchange and
sharing of best practices is imperative to overcome the disease. We
must, therefore, form a united front against this common enemy by being
coordinated and timely in our responses.
“Furthermore, we must all encourage and empower our scientists and
medical experts to join the quest for a vaccine and cure to this
universal plague.”
The President told Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned
Movement that the central role of the United Nations and the World
Health Organization (WHO) in fighting the pandemic must be acknowledged
and leveraged for the benefit of all member nations.
“It is, therefore, essential to fully collaborate and support their
initiatives in coordinating the international fight against the
pandemic. Such efforts should include the protection of our medical
workers, provision of medical supplies, especially test kits and
ultimately, finding a vaccine to cure the disease.”
President Buhari urged international financial institutions to assist
member states in cushioning the negative impact of the pandemic in the
spirit of solidarity, which will include extending concessional loans,
technical support, lowering of tariff on medical equipment and
consumables, sharing of expertise in case management, adopting open
trade policies, as well as outright debt cancellation.
“Within the spirit of South-South cooperation, we must also assist one
another, particularly the less developed and less endowed member states
with technical, medical, and financial assistance. It is by so doing
that we can rightly claim to uphold the Bandung Principles of equality,
mutual interests, and cooperation.”
On efforts to control the spread of the virus in Nigeria, and ameliorate
the economic effect, the President said:
“We have closed our land borders and airports and reduced seaport
activities in a bid to curb imported cases from entering the country.
Unfortunately, the number of confirmed cases continues to rise as a
result of community transmission of the disease.
“Accordingly, we have increased our efforts to monitor trends of the
disease, established more isolation centres and stepped up testing at
the community level and of potentially vulnerable groups.”
He said various relief materials were handed out, including medical and
food supplies as well as conditional cash transfer to about 3.6 million
vulnerable households affected by the stay at home order, while
responding to the economic needs of citizens by supporting households
and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) affected by COVID-19
induced economic downturn.
The President noted that a Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 was set
up, and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control strengthened to face
challenges of mobilization, sensitization and implementation of all
decisions.
President Buhari commended His Excellency, Ilham Aliyev, President of
the Republic of Azerbaijan and Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement for
organizing the extra-ordinary summit, and condoled with all members that
lost citizens to COVID-19.
In his remarks to the Summit, President of the UN General Assembly,
Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, pledged that his office would continue to work
with NAM to promote partnerships and galvanise the needed engagement to
defeat COVID-19 and reduce its impact on communities.
While commending WHO, NAM member-states, civil society and the private
sector, for providing vital support and services in the fight to defeat
the pandemic, the President of the General Assembly called on all those
that have the capacity, to financially support the UN’s COVID-19 Global
Humanitarian Response plan.
”COVID-19 has disrupted billions of lives with far-reaching effects on
the health and livelihoods of people.
”The International Labour Organization estimates that workers will lose
as much as 3.4 trillion US Dollars in income by the end of 2020. Global
health systems are under enormous stress and global travel has been
severely impacted.
”States, corporations and families are already counting losses that
could only be imagined in a state of war. Without alternative sources of
income, workers and their families will have no means to survive,” he
said.
Muhammad-Bande, who is also Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the
UN, said while no country is spared from the scourge of this pandemic or
its socio-economic impact, developing nations are bearing the heaviest
brunt of it – even if they do not experience an outbreak of COVID-19.
He warned that the pandemic had deepened pre-existing inequalities
between and among nations, putting immense strain on tenuous systems and
plunging those in the most precarious contexts into deeper poverty and
hunger.