Category: Special Report

Maj.-Gen. Dagvin Anderson is the Commander of the United States Special Operations Command Africa in Stuttgart. In a digital briefing with reporters, including Assistant Editor BOLA OLAJUWON, he speaks about U.S. partnerships with African nations to reduce extremism, combat terrorist organisations, and bring about peace and prosperity throughout the African continent. Excerpts:

Relationship with Africa

We work with the continent quite a bit, across the entire continent.  And so we understand there are several shared threats that many countries are looking at, whether that is what’s happening with COVID right now and causing issues around the world – that’s a global threat that we’re all working together as an international community on – but also the food insecurity, the droughts that are happening, the locust infestation that is hitting East Africa.  These are all things that compound issues that are already extant, and then the humanitarian crisis that’s looming that is being fuelled by the terrorists is also something that we watch carefully.  And then, making sure that as we look at this, we realise this is not solely a military effort, that this is an effort that takes partnership with our Department of State, USAID, other nongovernmental organisations, in order to address these underlying conditions and these underlying issues that create opportunity and create places where terrorists can exploit.  And so for us, it’s looking at this holistically is important, and looking at how we can address this not just as a military but as a government, but also as a community of international actors – both international governments and international organizations, especially nongovernmental organizations who can help bring relief to some of these areas.

We have seen the violent extremist organisations, these terrorists take advantage of these conditions over the last five years especially.  Al-Qaida has had a very deliberate campaign to exploit these seams and grievances and to expand their reach, especially into the west.  We’ve seen that they’ve taken advantage of this also by closing schools, so they – they take away the future.  They eliminate that future by shutting down these schools: over 9,000 schools across Africa shut down; 3,000 in Mali and Burkina Faso.  That is very concerning to us because what does that mean for future development, for future opportunities for people that live in these regions?  And what does it mean as these violent extremist organisations then replace those schools with their ideology and their teachings, which we believe is antithetical to a free and open society and prosperity?

So as we look at this, in the west, probably the fastest-growing humanitarian crisis is in the Sahel.  There’s a deliberate campaign by these terrorists to exploit that.  We recently – the Associated Press published in 2012 the al-Qaida playbook that was discovered, and it really laid out how al-Qaida’s methodically entrenching themselves into the society and into the Azawad area of northern Mali, and then using that to expand as a base going forward.  That’s very concerning to us because it’s a deliberate strategy, and part of that strategy is to be quiet about how they act, how they expand.  They’re not looking to advertise a lot of what they’re doing.  And then what we’ve seen them do is they’ve expanded now in Mali, but now into northern Burkina Faso, where they attacked infrastructure, then they took out local governance and security forces, and now they are using that, their presence, to control the local economy and exert their control over the population.  And we’re seeing them continue to move further south in Burkina Faso towards those littoral nations in the Gulf of Guinea, and also further west towards Senegal and West Africa.  So that’s concerning to us as we watch them continue to move throughout the region.

How extremist groups are exploiting the mess created by COVID-19 disruptions on the continent

So, from our perspective at U.S. AFRICOM and SOCAFRICA, we’re doing the initial analysis on that.  We’ve gotten the direction, so we’re looking at what that means.  This is very much in the early stages.  This is not something that’s going to happen rapidly for us because we are still working through what that means as far as locations and where we’ll go.  So this will be several months of analysis, I think, and it’ll take a while before we actually execute that move.

That being said, this is not going to affect our focus on the continent; it’s not going to affect our operations.  This is something that is very much tangential to what we’re doing, so it’s not going to be something that will distract us at all.  We will remain focused on the continent and we will remain focused on the violent extremists and how they’re continuing to develop, and we’ll continue to remain – our primary focus is with our partners to ensure that we stay, remain engaged.

And I can say that with complete certainty because, as you said – and I’ll just use this to bridge into your question on COVID – COVID was an even bigger disruption.  It was a global disruption.  And throughout that entire period, we remained focused on the continent.  Special Operations, U.S. Special Operations Forces, stayed engaged and did not leave the continent.  We did not walk away from our partners.  We stayed engaged.  We continued to put pressure on these violent extremists throughout COVID.

So I can tell you, moving a building or moving a headquarters to another location within Europe is going to be nothing compared to the stress and the disruption that was posed by COVID, and we were able to do that and still maintain our engagement with our partners and still maintain pressure on the VEOs (violent extremist organisations).

Now, that said, with COVID, yes, I do believe the extremists will look to exploit any opportunity they get, and COVID presents those opportunities because COVID stresses any government.  I mean, look – just look at the global implications of what COVID has had, and it’s stressing every government on the planet.  So, that said, we know the governments and these – the nations of Africa are also feeling that stress, and the VEOs will look to exploit that.

I can’t tell you exactly how because that will manifest itself in different ways in each of these countries.  But these VEOs are very dynamic and they’re very flexible, and they will look to see where those weak points are and where that can be exploited, and they will go after it.  Our job is to work with these countries and work with these governments to help them withstand that pressure, and that’s not necessarily a military effort.

The fight against terror since the onset of the pandemic and beyond

Again, our commitment to countering terrorism and VEOs since COVID has not changed.  We remained on the continent.  We did not pull any forces back.  We didn’t consolidate any forces.  We stayed in all our forward locations.  So we – and we remained engaged with our partners.  So throughout COVID, there has not been a change in the U.S. posture towards fighting VEOs and fighting terrorism on the continent.  When we look at the global pandemic and the partnerships, yes, there are stresses there and we talked about that.  I also think there are opportunities.  There are opportunities for us to partner.  There are opportunities for us to engage in ways beyond the military, and I don’t want to get too far ahead; that’s really getting into some State and USAID-type opportunities.

But what we have seen from the military perspective is many of these countries want assistance in how to counter COVID, how to – how to work with that, how to educate on that.  And I do believe that’s something the United States brings, and we bring that as a strength of our medical understanding, our medical engagement.  We have had a long history of health engagement across the continent, and this health engagement has not been a temporary means of engaging for a one-time gift of aid.  It has been an enduring engagement over many years that has helped build health infrastructure, that has helped build hospitals.  That’s what’s needed to counter COVID.

So as I look at this, and it goes to – and the reason I bring this up again is because this is how you delegitimise or undermine the terrorist narrative, is you provide these services, you provide these capabilities to the people, and that if we as a – as a community of international nations can help build this capacity within these different African nations to provide these services to their people, this undermines the ability of VEOs to gain traction.  This gives the opportunity, and health is a key sector to provide help in because it cuts across everybody, right.  Everybody cares about health.  Everybody cares about the health of their family.  I care about the health of my own family.  If I can help provide that, if we can provide that as an international community, then that delegitimizes much of the narratives that these violent extremists put out.  So that’s why I see COVID as a potential opportunity for the international community to come together and provide that type of assistance over the long term.

Now, when it comes to other partnerships – because I know the question was probably not focused there – when it comes to engagement on VEOs through the pandemic, we will continue to stay engaged and look for opportunities in the future.  So as we look at this, we still need to – where we’ve had established – an established presence, we’ve been able to mitigate the COVID impact and still stay engaged.

As we look to other places where we may come in episodically or we may come in where we haven’t been before, we need to look at then how do we – how do we have the infrastructure that we can come in and engage safely?  So that’s added a layer of our calculus that we have to do for risk mitigation. That’s true for every nation in the world.  That’s – COVID has created a new base line, a new level of risk that we have to be able to mitigate.  So we are addressing that as we come into – as we come into new countries or countries that we haven’t been to for a while as we engage.

With the current COVID-19 pandemic globally, how would you describe U.S. partnership with African governments in the area of tackling terrorism and insecurity?

When it comes to Nigeria in general, Nigeria, obviously, is a critical nation to West Africa.  It is huge just in its economy, in its population, and just its influence in the region.  It is a critical nation and we realise that Nigeria is a lynchpin.  For that to have an effect against the VEOs and to have an effect against these stressors, it really takes the Government of Nigeria to lead that effort and to build that energy to coalesce around.  So no nation can come in and fix that problem for Nigeria.  We can assist with that – and it’s the United States can assist, the United Kingdom, other countries can come in, many countries can come and assist with that partnership – but ultimately it takes leadership from Nigeria in order for us to focus our efforts.  We need to understand where Nigeria wants to focus those efforts so we can partner appropriately to have the best effect.

Why does the partnership with the U.S. appear to be failing Nigeria?

We have partnered with great effect with Nigeria in counterterrorism in the past.  We’ve had good engagements with their air force in particular and providing C-208 capability, which is a light, fixed-wing ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) platform, very capable, and we’ve had good engagement.  We’ve had good engagements with their air force in integrating their air force with their ground forces in order to make their air force more effective.  Nigeria is a large country, it’s got a lot of territory to cover, and so it’s critical that they have that air component and that air engagement.  So we have had positive engagements there.

Recently, the Nigerian coast guard went out and rescued some Chinese fishermen that were adrift out off their coast.  That was a combination of engagement from the U.S., where the U.S. had engaged with their maritime forces and helped build their maritime awareness along their coast.  And that was in partnership with their neighbours in Togo and Benin as well, who helped with that whole operation to understand the intelligence that led them to where these fishermen were, but then it was the unit that went out and did that was a Nigerian special operations unit that our Navy SEALs had trained a few years previously.

So sometimes it’s not the immediate effect, it’s the effect that happens two or three years later as you combine these engagements that have a greater effect later on.  I know that’s just one small example and it’s not directly against terrorism, but being able to engage in that maritime domain and to be able to understand what’s going on out there is critical, and that has been an engagement the United States has had over several years with Nigeria and those other coastal states in both the naval and the special operations forces.

More directly to his point, we have engaged with Nigeria and continue to engage with them in intel sharing and in understanding what these violent extremists are doing, and that has been absolutely critical to their engagements up in the Borno State and into an emerging area of northwest Nigeria that we’re seeing al-Qaida starting to make some inroads in.  So this intelligence sharing is absolutely vital and we stay fully engaged with the Government of Nigeria to provide them an understanding of what these terrorists are doing, what Boko Haram is doing, what ISIS-West Africa is doing, and how ISIS and al-Qaida are looking to expand further south into the littoral areas.

So these are all places where we stay engaged and we stay in great partnership with Nigeria, but I share the – and I can’t remember who asked the question, unfortunately, but I share sentiment that it is quite disturbing that despite all this assistance, the VEOs are continuing to make progress and continuing to be a threat.  I think there’s two factors in that.  One, it goes to that each government has to focus on this and provide that focus for international partners to engage with.  The other partner – the other part of this is we can’t underestimate the threat these violent extremist organizations pose.  We, as a community of international nations, keep thinking we have defeated them or we have put them on their back foot and that they’re just moments from disintegration.  I think after 20 years we have seen they are very resilient organizations that, although small, they’re able to leverage social media and other forms of media to have an outsized voice and that they continue to recruit and they continue to find opportunities.

And so they have evolved.  What they were in the ’90s and what they preyed upon in the ’90s is different than what we saw in the 2000s in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, and now as we see them come back into Africa and engage more in Africa, we see them exploit other grievances and other divides.  So we see them being very resilient, creative, and flexible.  So I’d ask all of the partners, all of our partners, not to underestimate the threat and not to underestimate what they’re capable of doing and that they are very patient and that they are willing to look for opportunities as they emerge.  So you can’t just say ‘we’ve defeated them,’ you have to continue to address weaknesses and places where these terrorist groups can – that they can exploit.

An independent panel of experts, headed by a former Irish President, Mary Robinson, has finally cleared African Development Bank (AfDB) President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina of alleged corruption and unethical conduct, Assistant Editor Bola Olajuwon writes.

For the African Development Bank (AfDB) President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, his desire to stand for reelection for a second five-year term during the annual meetings of the bank scheduled for August 25-27 is now assured.

This followed the release of a much-awaited report by an Independent Review Panel, which completely exonerated him of ethical wrongdoings levelled against him.

Adesina, 60, became the first Nigerian to lead the AfDB in 2015, but a 15-page report earlier this year claimed that under his watch, the bank had been affected by alleged poor governance, impunity, personal enrichment and favouritism.

A clean record before ethical dust

Since taking over the leadership of the bank, the highly honoured, global technocrat and respected development economist has introduced several innovative reforms, including a High-Five development strategy; a restructuring of the bank, including setting up offices in several African nations to get closer to its investors and customers; an Africa Investment Forum that has attracted $79 billion in investment interests into projects in Africa between 2018 and 2019.

He successfully led a historic General Capital Increase campaign that culminated in the Bank’s shareholders raising the institution’s capital from $93 billion to $208 billion, in October 2019.

He was awarded the prestigious World Food Prize in 2017 and the Sunhak Peace Prize in 2019 for global leadership in agriculture and good governance.

Despite his predicaments, in June and July, global credit ratings agencies – Standard and Poors and Fitch Ratings – both affirmed the ‘AAA’ rating of the bank, with a stable outlook.

Also, under Adesina’s leadership, the AfDB launched a $10 billion crisis response facility to boost African nations’ ability to tackle the health and economic effects of COVID-19.

The petition, board reviews and the U.S. angle

The petition claimed that Adesina breached 16 of the bank’s code of conduct, including “unethical conduct, private gain, an impediment to efficiency, preferential treatment, involvement in political activities, impunity and bad governance”.

The African banking institution and Adesina, who is the sole candidate for the bank’s August’s presidential elections, had been battered by the rollercoaster of allegations after the whistleblowers’ complaints were leaked to the media in April.

But, the former Nigerian Minister for Agriculture vigorously denied the allegations and defended his integrity.

The whistleblowers also sent copies of the petition to both the Director of the Integrity & Anti-Corruption office (PIAC) of the Bank, and the Chairperson of the Audit & Finance Committee (AUFI) in line with the bank’s “Whistleblowing and Complaints Handling Policy”.

Between February 4 and April 9, 2020, the ethics committee held series of meetings to review documents and presentations as it conducted “preliminary examination” of the allegations against Adesina to establish whether they were “based on any objective and solid facts” under Resolution No. B/BG/2008/11.

Resolution No. B/BG/2008/11 adopted at the bank’s 43rd Annual Meeting of the Board on May 14, 2008.

The resolution, which lists the code of conduct for its executive directors and those of the African Development Fund (ADF), also apply to the AfDB President.

Apart from the petition, other documents reviewed during the series of meetings by the committee included the confidential memo submitted by Adesina detailing his defence of the allegations against him.

On May 5, the ethics committee of the bank’s board of directors headed by the institution’s Japan Executive Director, Takuji Yano, found that Adesina was not guilty of any of the allegations.

Yano, who led the investigation, described as “spurious and unfounded” claims that Adesina violated the bank’s code of conduct.

The ethic committee’s verdict cleared the way for Adesina, 60, to firm up his second term bid for election.

But, two weeks later, the United States Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, rejected the ethics committee result and called for an independent probe into the allegations.

In a May 22 letter addressed to Niale Kaba, chairwoman of the bank’s board of governors, Mnuchin said the Treasury disagrees with findings by the bank’s ethics committee that “totally exonerated” Adesina.

But the confidential memo submitted by Adesina to the committee on April 8 gave a point-by-point response to all the 16 allegations.

The memo suggests that the allegations by the “Group of Concerned Staff” may be connected with scuttling Adesina’s presidential re-election bid.

He accused the petitioners of disclosing their allegations beyond the committee “by acting in concert with others outside the AfDB system”.

Adesina, in his memo to the committee, said: “The point about others acting in concert with the whistle-blowers is not speculation.

A group of independent Bank staff members apparently wrote a ‘Disassociation Note’ on March 9, 2020, in which they explained that they had been members of a group called ‘Group of Concerned Staff Members,’ namely the whistle-blowers behind the disclosure, but that they had been ‘manipulated’ by a group of non-regional Executive Directors behind Mr Steven Dowd, not for the good governance of the African Bank of Development, but to discredit the candidacy of the current President for his re-election.”

Dowd is the U.S. government representative at the bank.

Experts, Obasanjo, AU, ECOWAS vouch support for AfDB President

A plethora of support came on the way of Adesina following the U.S. call for an independent panel, with experts saying that it was wrong changing the rule of the game in the middle on the probe of the allegations.

One of the international relations experts, who frowned at America’s move was former Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Ambassador Bulus Lolo.

He said the United States must be resisted, insisting that AfDB’s internal mechanism should be allowed to endure.

Similarly, the former emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II urged Africans and friends of the continent to stand up and ensure that laid-down rules are respected in the AfDB Group.

“The excellent letter written by the finance minister says it all and I am pleased that former President Olusegun Obasanjo has weighed in on the matter. Every well-meaning African or friend of Africa should speak up on this matter,” he said.

Sanusi, who is a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said the support being shown for Adesina should not be viewed as “defending a Nigerian or a friend”.

“I have watched him at AfDB and his stellar performance is there for all to see. This is not about defending a Nigerian or a friend,” he added.

Also, Obasanjo criticised the U.S. for insisting on “independent investigation” into the allegations. In a letter to the board, Obasanjo and 13 African former leaders said the clearance granted Akinwunmi by the laid down institutions should have put the matter to rest.

He questioned the insistence of the U.S. on “independent investigation”, declaring “it is outside of the rules, laws, procedures and governance systems of the bank.”

African Union, ECOWAS endorsement

As the crisis was brewing, the Executive Council of the African Union on February 25 announced its support for Adesina’s candidacy for a second term.

The decision was taken during the thirty-sixth Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council, held during the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

On June 11, the Heads of State and Governments of the 15 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member states restated their “full confidence” in Adesina as the AfDB President.

The West African leaders made their position known in a statement signed by President of Niger, who is also ECOWAS President, Mahamadou Issoufou, dated June 5, 2020. The ECOWAS leaders also welcomed “the excellent achievements of the AfDB under Adesina’s leadership.”

Independent panel’s final clearance

The report of the Independent Review Panel, set up by the bank’s Bureau of Governors, following the U.S. complaint, has now put to rest the complaints against Adesina.

The distinguished three-member Independent Review Panel include Robinson, who is a former President of the Republic of Ireland, a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Chairperson of the Elders, a global body of wise persons concerned with the world’s wellbeing; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Gambia, Mr. Hassan B. Jallow; and Mr. Leonard F. McCarthy, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, a former Director for the Office of Serious Economic Offences, and a former Head of the Directorate of Special Operations of South Africa. He also served as the Vice President of Integrity for the World Bank for nine years.

The report states that it “concurs with the (Ethics) committee in its findings in respect of all the allegations against the President and finds that they were properly considered and dismissed by the committee.”

The panel once again vindicates Adesina and states, “It has considered the President’s submissions on their face and finds them consistent with his innocence and to be persuasive.”

The panel, in its conclusion, said it was mindful of the fact that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”.

Robinson, in the report, writes: “At the same time, it appears to us to be an undue burden to expect a holder of high office in an international organisation, to prove a negative, in the absence of sufficient grounds.

An attorney writing on behalf of the President also argues quite correctly in our view that a distinction should be drawn between alleged institutional failure at the bank and the conduct of the president.

“The panel explained at the outset that it was dividing its report into two parts. In the first part, it considered the complaints provided to the Ethics Committee by the whistle-blowers and found that they had been properly considered and dismissed by the committee.

In its second part, it considered, in the interests of due process, the responses of the President. While the committee was not required to consider and did not consider the President’s responses, it was in the interests of fairness and of due process that the panel be required to do so.

As it has explained, the panel has not passed judgment on the president’s evidence. It has also borne in mind that the whistle-blowers’ complaints were wrongly publicised and that fairness required that the president be heard.

It has considered the president’s submissions on their face and finds them consistent with his innocence and to be persuasive.”

Some members of the bank’s senior management yesterday said the conclusions of the Independent Review Panel are decisive and now clear the way for the bank’s governors to re-elect Adesina to a second five-year term as president during its annual meetings.

Data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control showed that the country has recorded 3,870 new coronavirus infections and 78 deaths in the last one week (from July 19 to 25), writes Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF

SINCE the confirmation of the first Coronavirus case on February 27, Nigeria has joined 213 countries and territories around the world where rising Coronavirus infections have become a number one public health challenge. After five months of managing the global pandemic by the combined strength of the federal and state authorities, Nigeria as at yesterday has recorded 39,977 confirmed cases and 856 deaths.

Within the same period in Nigeria, no fewer than 16,948 people have recovered from their infections, leaving the country with 22,173 active cases. As at Saturday, July 25, NCDC said 259,516 Coronavirus tests had been carried out in Nigeria, a country of estimated 200,000,000 people.

On the African continent, the confirmed death toll stood at 17,509, as of July 26. According to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the continent now has 828,214 confirmed cases and 484,038 recoveries. South Africa leads the African Coronavirus table with 434,200 cases and 6,655 deaths, while Egypt comes second with 91,583 cases and 4,558 deaths. Nigeria ranks third in Africa and 47th in the world in terms of the number of infections. Globally, yesterday, Coronavirus cases climbed to 16,230,817, with 648,914 deaths. A total of 9,931,243 people around the world are reported to have recovered from the virus.

Since Nigeria has increased its testing capacity, a breakdown of daily figures released by NCDC has shown that there is a steady increase in Coronavirus infections in the country. On Saturday, July 25, Nigeria recorded 438 new infections and 11 deaths; as against 591 new cases ad 12 deaths posted on Friday, July 24. According to NCDC, the 438 cases reported on July 25 were recorded in 23 states. The states are Lagos (123), Kaduna (50), Rivers (40), Edo (37), Adamawa (25), Oyo (20), Nasarawa (16), Enugu (15), Osun (15), FCT (14), Ekiti (13), Ondo (13), Ebonyi (11), Katsina (10), Abia (9), Delta (8), Kwara (4), Bauchi (3), Cross River (3), Kano (3), Ogun (3), Yobe (2), and Sokoto (1). On the same day, 389 patients were discharged in 13 states: Ondo (100), Rivers (61), Kaduna (38), Abia (35), Edo (34), Ogun (34), Bayelsa (25), Osun (19), FCT (16), Bauchi (8), Ekiti (8), Katsina (8), and Ebonyi (3). Unfortunately, 11 patients died on the day in 4 states: Edo (5), Niger (3), Rivers (2) and Ebonyi (1).

The 591 new cases posted on July 24 were reported from 17 states: Oyo (191), Lagos (168), FCT (61), Ondo (29), Osun (26), Ebonyi (24), Edo (23), Ogun (14), Rivers (13), Akwa Ibom (12), Kaduna(10), Katsina(6), Borno (4), Ekiti(3), Delta(3), Imo(3), Niger (1). On the same day, 498 cases were discharged in 19 states: Ondo (100), Enugu (54), Ogun (51), Plateau (45), Osun (40), Oyo (28), Kano (25), FCT (24), Bayelsa (21), Niger (21), Edo (14), Kaduna (14), Kwara (14), Imo (13), Lagos (12), Rivers (12), Anambra (7), Bauchi (2) and Borno (1). The following 7 states were responsible for 12 deaths recorded on July 24: Oyo (4), Akwa Ibom (2), Ebonyi (2), Delta (1), FCT (1), Kwara (1) and Rivers (1).

On Thursday, July 23, 604 new Coronavirus cases were reported in 21 states Lagos (203), Oyo (87), FCT (79), Edo (41), Osun (35), Ogun (24), Kaduna (22), Rivers (22), Akwa Ibom (20), Plateau (18), Delta (9), Ebonyi (9), Imo (8), Cross River (5), Enugu (5), Kano (5), Katsina (4), Nasarawa (3), Borno (2), Ekiti (2) and Bauchi ((1). On the same day, 246 patients were discharged in 13 states: Lagos (82), Kaduna (41), Plateau (36), Edo (21), Rivers (18), Kano (13), Imo (8), Gombe (6), FCT (5), Kebbi (5), Ogun (5), Ondo (5) and Ebonyi (1); while 20 deaths were recorded in five states: Lagos (15), Akwa Ibom (2), Ebonyi (1), Kwara (1) and Plateau (1).

According to the data from NCDC, 543 confirmed cases were reported on Wednesday, July 22. The new cases were reported in 15 states: Lagos (180), FCT (86), Kaduna (56), Edo (47), Ondo (37), Kwara (35), Ogun (19), Rivers (19), Kano (17), Ebonyi (16), Enugu (16), Delta (7), Bayelsa (4), Bauchi (3), and Abia (1). There were 138 people discharged after recovery in 10 states: FCT (34), Kano (27), Edo (25), Ogun (17), Rivers (12), Kaduna (8), Bayelsa (5), Gombe (5), Ebonyi (4), and Anambra (1); while 8 deaths were recorded in 4 states: Edo (4), Ebonyi (2), Abia (1) and FCT (1).

On Tuesday, July 21, NCDC confirmed that 576 new cases were reported in 22 states: Lagos (88), Kwara (87), FCT (82), Plateau (62), Ondo (39), Enugu (28), Oyo (26), Taraba (24), Ebonyi (20), Kaduna (20), Edo (17), Cross River (16), Kano (14), Rivers (11), Ogun (10), Delta (9), Nasarawa (8), Osun (8), Katsina (3), Borno (1) and Kebbi (1). A total of 344 patients were discharged on the same day in the following 14 states: Kaduna (59), Osun (56), FCT (41), Plateau (37), Rivers (36), Lagos (29), Bayelsa (21), Edo (20), Ogun (14), Enugu (11), Borno (8), Delta (4), Imo (4), and Oyo (4). Sadly four patients lost the battle of life to coronavirus in 3 states on the same day: Ebonyi (2), Ogun (1), and Lagos (1).

Last Monday, July 20, 562 new cases were confirmed in Nigeria. The infections were reported in 21 states: FCT (102), Lagos (100), Plateau (52), Kwara (50), Abia (47), Kaduna (35), Benue (34), Oyo (26), Ebonyi (24), Kano (16), Niger (15), Anambra (5), Borno (3), Bauchi (2), Enugu (2), and Kebbi (1). On the same day, 228 cases discharged in 12 states: Edo (60), Ogun (36), Plateau (31), Abia (26), FCT (19), Ebonyi (15), Kaduna (15), Benue (9), Rivers (7), Gombe (5), Borno (3) and Bayelsa (2). A total of 12 deaths were recorded in 8 states on the same day: Anambra (2), Delta (2), Ebonyi (2), Niger (2), Bayelsa (1), Gombe (1), Ondo (1) and Rivers (1).

On Sunday, July 19, Nigeria recorded a total of 556 new cases of Coronavirus in 18 states. The states are Edo (104), Lagos (97), FCT (70), Benue (66), Oyo (61), Kaduna (38), Plateau (28), Osun (19), Akwa Ibom (14), Katsina (13), Ondo (13), Rivers (13), Ogun (6), Kano (5), Nasarawa (4), Ekiti (2), Gombe (2) and Borno (1). The NCDC also reported that 167 patients were discharged in 13 states: Oyo (40), Kaduna (28), Kano (25), Ogun (16), Edo (12), Gombe (12), Borno (7), FCT (7), Lagos (6), Plateau (6), Rivers (4), Adamawa (2) and Bayelsa (1). On the same day, 11 deaths were reported in 4 states: Edo (6), Ebonyi (2), Plateau (2) and Bayelsa (1).

The battle against COVID-19 has not been easy for even super powers. The United Kingdom, for instance, had the challenge of getting enough ventilators to quell the debilitating effects of the virus. One of those who helped out is a Nigerian, Victor Osagie, writes ROBERT EGBE

IT is an honour well-deserved. That was how the Cabinet office of the United Kingdom described the ingenuity of a Nigerian Information Technology Consultant, Victor Osagie. The office believes Osagie is one of the best Britain has to offer. Reason: He used his ingenuity for the mass production of ventilators to boost the National Health System (NHS) fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.

A commendation letter from the cabinet office of the UK and jointly endorsed by all partners, including Ford and Airbus, commended Osagie for his role in the just concluded ventilator challenge project, which was an initiative of the cabinet office.

“Thank you for your invaluable contribution to our ventilator challenge UK team. As we battled together to save lives threatened by Covid-19 your energy, ingenuity and camaraderie made a tremendous difference. You are a shining example of the best UK has to offer,” the office said.

Osagie ‘s team delivered the quality control system that rapidly converted disused warehouses into assembly lines.  His team  converted Ford Motors vehicle production lines and Airbus Aircraft production lines into ventilator production lines. They produced over 14,000 ventilators in 90 days. This boosted the NHS ventilator capacity from less than 9000 pre-COVID19 era to the over 25000 capacity in July 2020.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson noted that the ventilator challenge proved how much Britain can achieve when confronted with difficult problems.

Johnson said: “Bringing together the best minds in manufacturing, innovation and design was a right decision. Thanks to your effort, everyone who needs a ventilator had access to one. And the NHS has the vital machines needed to continue providing lifesaving support against the deadly virus.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancook said: “We protected the NHS during this global pandemic. The impact of COVID – 19 showed the best and the brightest stepping forward to serve their country. The response the government received to this challenge was astonishing.”

A former director with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Gabriel Ehilebo, said Osagie would be value added if Nigeria could get him and  his like to work with the economic sustainability committee to be able to robustly respond to the challenges posed by the COVID19 pandemic.

Osagie advised the Federal Government to redirect educational resources to producing doctors and nurses and Information Technology consultants that can be exported all over the world to earn foreign exchange and also serve as a cheap source of further enhancing the skills of such personnel who can subsequently return home to provide world class services.

“This will be an opportunity to addressing some of the challenges of graduate unemployment in Nigeria,” he said.

There is palpable anxiety as the authorities battle the spread of the Coronavirus across communities in the Federal Capital Territory. GBENGA OMOKHUNU reports.

The daily discovery of high number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the suburbs of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja has become a source of worry to residents as they struggle to stay safe.

The development has heightened tension among residents across the six area councils in the FCT, namely; Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abaji, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali. Since the first three COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the FCT on March 20, 2020, government and major stakeholders have been battling to curb the spread. Community transmission, following daily tests, has also shown that the pandemic has gotten deep into the suburbs.

A resident of Mabushi, Joy Omolola, who spoke with our correspondent, expressed worry over the spread of the pandemic. She said many residents still disobey the safety rules. Another resident in Kuje, Mr. Albert Ibrahim, said: “We should behave ourselves and do things the right way. Compared to what has been happening in other lands, we are very lucky and should not take God for granted. With Mabushi and Gishiri now on the NCDC radar, who knows what will become of the other suburbs and even the metropolitan Abuja. ”

The development necessitated an emergency meeting of stakeholders, including religious, traditional and political leaders involved in the fight against the dreaded pandemic in the capital territory.

FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello expressed sadness at the attitude of council chairmen and royal fathers in handling the spread at the grassroots level.

The minister urged the royal fathers and Area Council Chairmen in the FCT to take on the responsibility of educating and sensitising residents at the grassroots level on the need to adhere to established protocols.

The meeting also had in attendance, the Director General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID -19, Dr Sani Aliyu, FCT Minister of State,  Dr Ramatu Aliyu, amongst other participants. While pledging the commitment of the FCT Administration to the fight against the virus, the minister said defeating it required a collective responsibility by all and urged all stakeholders to also play their part by supporting the efforts of the administration.

FCT Minister of State Dr Ramatu Aliyu warned against stigmatisation of COVID-19 patients, who she said, did not deliberately seek to be infected. Aliyu also called for the collective efforts of all stakeholders in the fight against the pandemic. She advised residents to disregard misinformation that government was involved in the spread of the virus, adding that they should instead focus on curbing its spread through obedience to extant guidelines of wearing face masks, maintaining personal hygiene and observing social distancing. Aliyu also said it would take collective efforts by all to contain community transmission.

Dr. Ihekweazu commended the FCT Administration for the construction of the road leading to the National Reference  Laboratory at Gaduwa, which he said has increased the efficiency of the facility. Ihekweazu also commended the leadership of the FCT Administration for being proactive in its approach to battling the pandemic and also charged the traditional rulers on sensitising the people at the grassroots level. He noted that the rate at which the pandemic is spreading at the grassroots level is alarming.

The National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr. Sani Aliyu, also said that the best way to fight the pandemic is through attitudinal change on the part of the people. This, he said, is where the traditional and religious leaders come in through community engagement.

According to him, the major challenge is how to stay alive while the pandemic lasts. State Epidemiologist, Dr. Doris John, gave an overview of the spread while also stressing the rising level of community transmission. John also stated that poor adherence to preventive measures has increased the spread of the virus while late presentation of cases has led to increased number of fatalities. She disclosed that the major challenges faced by health workers in the fight against the pandemic are stigmatisation, denial, myth and misconception.

She also said many confirmed cases refused to be evacuated to treatment centres while there is low involvement of key stakeholders at the community levels. Infections among frontline health workers are also increasing with the number of imported cases into the FCT also on the rise. Other challenges include inadequate logistics (vehicle), low case-contact ratio, poor adherence to non-pharmaceutical preventive measures and inadequate funds to implement incidence Action Plan.