The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission,
\nNDDC, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, has justified the Commission’s
\ndecision to give financial support to Niger Delta states to fight
\nCoronavirus disease, COVID-19.<\/p>\n
Addressing a press conference in Port Harcourt yesterday, Prof Pondei
\nsaid that as an interventionist agency, it was important for the NDDC to
\nwork in synergy with the nine state governments in the Niger Delta
\nregion.<\/p>\n
He stated: “Having discussed with the different state governments, we
\ndidn’t want to duplicate efforts. For instance, we wanted to procure
\nventilators but most of the people who say that they can supply the
\nequipment, do not have them in the country. Again, ventilators are now
\nin short supply even in the US. The prices have also skyrocketed.
\nBesides, since the states had made plans to get the ventilators, we
\nthought it was better to support them financially.”<\/p>\n
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer noted that even if the Commission was
\nable to procure equipment and drugs, it would still need to hand them
\nover to the states for deployment. He cited the case of primary
\nhealthcare centres built by the NDDC in different communities, which
\nwere not functional today because the states were not carried along.<\/p>\n
Pondei said that the way forward for Nigeria was to quickly increase the
\nnumber of testing centres across the country. He explained that the NDDC
\ninitially attempted to procure some equipment and materials to help in
\nthe fight against COVID-19 pandemic, but with the lockdown and the
\nattendant logistic problems in the country, the Commission decided to
\nsupport the states monetarily.<\/p>\n
He remarked: “It is not our place to tell them how to build their
\ncapacity. Each state knows what their challenges are; they know which
\nfacilities they have and which ones they require. The NDDC in addition
\nto the financial support, is carrying out enlightenment campaigns. We
\nare also extending support to youth and women groups across the states.”<\/p>\n
The NDDC boss observed that the world was dealing with a pandemic that
\nhas spread beyond international boundaries and overwhelmed quite a
\nnumber of countries. According to him, the key thing was containment and
\nthis required finding out those that had been exposed and tracing there
\ncontacts, so as to put them under some form of quarantine.<\/p>\n
Pondei said that much as testing was key, it was also a problem because
\nno nation had the capacity to test everybody.\u00a0 He noted: “A number of
\nnations have made the mistake of acquiring test kits that have ended up
\nbeing useless. Right now, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC,
\nis doing a very good job, expanding the testing centers and getting
\nrequisite equipment.”<\/p>\n
He observed that most of the kits being used were not efficient and may
\nnot be able to detect COVID-19 “because everybody has one way or another
\nbeen exposed to Coronavirus and those kits just test for antibodies that
\nalready exist in most of us.”<\/p>\n
Pondei stressed the need for people to imbibe simple health tips like
\nsocial distancing, not smoking in a crowd, good coughing etiquette and
\nregular hand washing with soap and water. He advised that hand washing
\ntechniques be taught through the mass media.<\/p>\n
The NDDC boss underscored the need for a comprehensive health insurance
\nscheme for the country, stating: “Health insurance is the key to
\nuniversal health coverage, which is the desire of everybody.”<\/p>\n
He added: “For us to get health insurance to work, there is need to make
\nit compulsory for all Nigerians. It does not work well when it is
\nvoluntary. In all the countries where it has worked well, it is
\nmandatory.<\/p>\n
“In the United Kingdom, as long as you work, you will contribute to
\nhealth insurance. In our own country, it has been difficult even with
\nthe National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, which has been able to cover
\nonly five per cent of the population.”<\/p>\n
Dismissing the various conspiracy theories in the public domain, Pondei
\nsaid that it was a big distraction that was capable of making people to
\nlose sight of the problem. “This talk about 5G network and COVID-19
\ncould be a source of distraction. While people are debating over
\nunsubstantiated claims, the virus is spreading. We should be worried and
\nthinking about finding solutions. That is why public enlightenment is
\nvery important. Some people do not even believe that the virus exists.
\nOthers say that it doesn’t kill black people. But in the United States
\nof America, blacks are dying in their numbers.”<\/p>\n
“The 5G is supposed to be a massive improvement on the 4G network in
\nterms of speedy delivery. It is a faster communication network. There is
\nno scientific evidence to link COVID-19 pandemic and 5G network. There
\nis still a lot that is not known about this virus, but it is clear that
\nit is not from genetic manipulation or from any laboratory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, has justified the Commission’s decision to give financial support to Niger Delta states to fight Coronavirus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n