As Nigeria battles to beat the scourge of coronavirus scourge, the Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Toby Okechukwu has urged the Federal Government to urgently empower indigenous manufacturers. He made his feelings known in a statement made available to DAILY POST Tuesday night. Okechukwu said this was in view of
As Nigeria battles to beat the scourge of coronavirus scourge, the Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Toby Okechukwu has urged the Federal Government to urgently empower indigenous manufacturers.Okechukwu said this was in view of the shortage of facilities needed to fight the pandemic.
He noted that “the closure of land, sea, and air borders, and lockdown ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari for Lagos, Abuja , and Ogun, lockdown of many states ordered by their governments; and closure of schools, markets, places of worship, etc, are all impressive responses that are geared towards containment and prevention by curtailing fresh imported cases and community spread.”
“Clearly, one question that must be puzzling our “first responders” and indeed all Nigerians is: How can we source critical equipment like ventilators, test kits, among others that are required in the management of this pandemic? Reports indicate that the number of such life-saving equipment are nowhere near our requirements to manage a mild situation, let alone a dire scenario such as we have in some parts of the world. This is largely due to the sad fact that our health system is broken.
“Therefore, the State had to procure about 3,000 manually operated bag valve masks and ordered 4,000 more. The same scenario is reflected in other industrialized countries like the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Canada and Germany, which are ramping up production of the much-needed equipment to confront this pandemic, but for their own people.
“Instructively, Nigeria is also known to thrive in times of crisis as exemplified by the exploits of the defunct Eastern Region during the Civil War when the Research and Production Organisation, comprising the likes of Engineers Gordian Ezekwe, Benjamin Nwosu, Willy Achukwu and other scientists mainly from the University of Nigeria Nsukka rose to the challenge in the design and production of equipment.
“This can be supported by legislative enactments that can orchestrate the manufacture of essential equipment and drugs with appropriate funding for it. Even when the days of this pandemic are over, they can still be applied to use in our healthcare system. Importantly, they also become production lines that could be further developed to enhance our local content in the long run. It is a window of opportunity and it is time to get going because every second counts now.
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