US President Donald Trump says there are plans to send ventilators to Nigeria as the country desperately needs the all important health equipment to consolidate its gains and boost its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The President said this at a press conference on Wednesday.
It would be recalled that Lai Mohammed, minister of information, at the presidential task force on COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, had announced that President Muhammadu Buhari spoke with Trump on the exigencies of of COVID-19 and how the pandemic was being addressed in Nigeria.
“The conversation centred on Nigeria’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. President Buhari used the opportunity to brief the American President on the steps that Nigeria is taking to contain the spread of the disease,” the minister had said.
“On his part, President Trump assured that the United States stand in solidarity with Nigeria in this difficult time and promised to send ventilators to support the country in its fight against the pandemic. President Trump also extends his best regards to the people of Nigeria.”
Reiterating his commitment towards helping countries beleaguered by the pandemic overcome it, Trump, who spoke at a press briefing aired on Fox News on Wednesday, confirmed that there were plans in place by the US to send ventilators from Florida to other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, was at the briefing. According to Trump, Florida was dire need of ventilators and thousands were sent to them and now, they had a surplus not being used which could be sent to other countries.
“Ron said one thing that was interesting. He talked about ventilators and that ventilators were going to be a disaster in Florida and not enough and we sent them thousands of ventilators. But in the meantime, you have thousands of ventilators that aren’t used and we’ll be able to send them probably to other countries,” he said.
“You’ll build up your stockpile because these other countries, Italy, France, Spain; we’re sending to Spain. I spoke today to Nigeria. They’ll do anything for ventilators. We’re going to send at least 200 ventilators to Nigeria; probably more than that.”
As of April 29, 2020, Nigeria had recorded a total of 1,728 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in 33 states and the federal capital territory.