The details of President Muhammadu Buhari meeting on Sunday night with the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, and the Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu has surfaced.
The trio held a closed-door meeting at the State House, Abuja to deliberate on various health challenges rocking the country top of which are, the lockdown, the COVID-19 scourge and the strange disease ravaging Kano, which has killed over 400 people in the last one week.
On the strange disease wrecking havoc in Kano, while addressing State House correspondents after the meeting, Ehanire said that his ministry had been in contact with relevant agencies and stakeholders, including Kano State Government with a view to proffering solutions to the problem, adding that the public will be further briefed on the situation of things as events unfold.
He said that he and Ihekweazu briefed the president on the activities of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
They also discussed the lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States as the restriction of movement occassioned by the disease expires Monday night.
The President is likely to address the nation in a national broadcast and he’s expected to declare a 14-day ban on inter-state travel as recommended by governors.
Ehanire said they gave Buhari the summary report of the PTF and the ministries on health health and socio-economic factors.
The minister expressed optimisim at the manner the country had handled the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that Nigeria was winning the fight against the outbreak as all health institutions and relevant stakeholders were working in tandem to defeat the virulent infection.
He said: “The fight is going on very well. As I said, all countries have continued with the struggle against coronavirus, using the strategies that they have developed for their own countries.
“We have developed a strong strategy as we are working with other expert groups like the NCDC and relevant health organisations. So, we are also working with the states and the governors.’’
Ihekweazu said NCDC will continue to build up its testing strategies.
“At the moment, 14 testing centres have been activated across the country. We want to bring the test closer to every state. Everybody is working very hard to solve this problem.
“I can see that some people are already procuring Rapid Diagnostic Test Kits. They don’t work as far as we know. So, I will really recommend that we all stick to the National Strategy, build on it, support its expansion and together we will get on top of the pandemic,’’ he stated.