By Chris Paul Otaigbe
Covid-19 continues its consistent pounding of countries across continents, intra-state and inter-State with over three million infected and ramping up to 300,000 deaths.
In Nigeria, the majority of the states’ efforts are virtually in the news, recording an increasing number of confirmed cases and deaths. A significant few, however, have recorded zero contagion in their individual States.
What are they doing right or not doing at all to arrive at this mysterious zero statistic? Could this be the kind of news for which they should celebrate? Or could the popularly perceived passivity of the state’s governors cause an explosion and its exponential spike in the population of infected and deaths as currently witnessed in Kano?
As at April 29, 2020, Nigeria’s Covid-19 status stood at a total of 10,918 samples tested, with over 1,532 confirmed cases, 44 deaths and 255 discharged across 34 States of the Federation including the FCT out 37 federating entities. What happened to the remaining three states? What did they do to Covid-19 clean?
Yobe, Cross Rivers and Kogi states are with no recorded ties to the pandemic thus far. When one of the states’ governors was asked the reason for this, he attributed this to lack of test centre.
This was the case as at 29th April, when this report was put together. However, at the point of putting the paper to bed, the breaking news of the confirmed index in Yobe State broke and automatically, dropped the North East state from the triumvirate of none- Covid-19 infested states.
Nonetheless, its experience is a reminder to the remaining two in the group that it may not yet be Eldorado as ‘Covid-19’ can hit them anytime, anyhow and it can emerge from anywhere or anyone.
One has to hope, therefore, that the anti-Covid-19 fortress, Yobe may have erected with the precautionary strategies it had adopted earlier is not shattered by today’s discovery of the state’s first Covid-19 case.
The question, then, what suddenly happened that despite the measures it adopted, the 29-year old male, with no travel history, imported the virus into the State?
Before now, the state had drawn up and implemented strategies that held the fabric of its communities and neighbourhoods. About the middle of last month, Yobe got the false that changed their attitude and approach to the pandemic.
Since Yobe state confirmed its index case, negative, on March 15, 2020, the government left no stone unturned to prepare the people against any invasion from the pandemic.
The 57- year old female who had arrived from California was reported to have complained of body weakness, difficulty in breathing and chest pain. She was promptly conveyed to the Yobe State University Teaching Hospital (YSUTH) on March 11 to be tested and three days later, the result came confirming her as a negative index.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Mohammed Gana said Yobe worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) office and other Development Partners to prevent the plague from penetrating the State.
In the first week of April, Governor Mai-Mala Buni; his deputy, Idi-Barde Gubana; and other members of the state executive council and all top appointees donated half of their salaries toward the battle against coronavirus.
The recent outbreak of the virus in Kano unsettled the state so much the Governor had to shut the borders and bar Yobeans who went to Kano on a business trip from returning to Damaturu.
Investigations revealed that some of the traders living in the metropolitan part of the capital city took advantage of the opening of Kano by Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje for the people of Kano to make their Ramadan purchase and quickly rush to Kano to restock their goods.
The action of some of the traders attracted concerns and anxiety among Yobeans since Kano has by now acquired the status of a high-risk COVID-19 State. Awareness is at its peak such that even the ordinary man on the street of Yobe is conscious and cautious of the rules of social distancing and every other existing anti-coronavirus measure.
Unfortunately, however, all that effort may have gone down the drain with the emergence of its first coronavirus patient.
Cross Rivers State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade’s attitude to the pandemic is worthy of note. While launching the facemask programme he created recently, Ayade, who is a professor of science, said as a certified scientist in that corner of science, he knows how the virus works.
“I know its aetiology, I know its transmissibility; I know its antigenicity; because I do, I know that once you put on these masks, you already have been protected. You don’t need social distancing when you are properly protected because for your mucal glands that secrets the mucus and the musings already form a network of coats to attack the virus,” he propounded.
Although, another Professor of Virology-related discipline, Prof. Nura Alkali, attempted to deconstruct the Governor’s thesis on the virologic means to get rid of the plague.
One of the anti-Covid-19 solutions Ayade advanced is polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Ayade’s argument is, what happens to the index after testing since there is no confirmed and certified vaccine to cure the disease. He said the best solution would have been to take fluid samples from those that have been discharged because according to him, the fact that they could recover from their positive status means the discharged patients have developed antibodies that can kill the virus. “So, you take their serum to the Lab to develop it into the solution that can now be used to combat the virus,” he said.
Debunking Prof. Ayade’s theory, Nura Alkali, who is the Chief Consultant Neurologist at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) said: “I don’t know how else to explain a professor of immunology claiming that PCR methods are only good for viral sequencing but unreliable for diagnostic purposes.”
Alkali who teaches 400 level students of medicine and microbiology said it is elementary knowledge that PCR is the most reliable method of identifying microbes causing human disease, especially viruses like HIV and the SARS-Cov-2 causing Covid-19.
“Surely, a professor of science and an expert in immunology would know the difference between serum therapy and vaccines. And should be the last to confuse and conflate the two with pompous jingoism.
“What Ayade is yakking about is serum therapy, where someone who has fought off disease, have their serum taken, prepared and administered to a SICK person who cannot produce antibodies of their own. Its purpose is to TREAT already sick people,” he said.
According to Prof Alkali, vaccines, on the other hand, are prepared by attenuating the antigenicity of the causal organism, which is then tested for efficacy possible reaction to the recipient. Vaccines are administered on healthy people and the purpose is to prevent infection.
“What our renowned professor is familiar with and sounding off about, is the simple extraction of blood from a recovered person, followed by extraction of serum, processing it before administration. Vaccine production is a different piece of cake. You must obtain the actual variant or a co- variant of the causal organism and attenuate it in the laboratory,” said Prof. Alkali.
He said highly pathogenic organisms like coronavirus, can only be processed in at least a level 3- 4 biosecurity laboratory, which he posited is not available in Nigeria.
“Prof Ayade should tell the world where a level 4 biosecurity laboratory is located, in Nigeria, that could handle a virulent virus that causes Covid 19., thus talking of professors of virology who understands the procedure is not the issue. Does Nigeria possess a level four biosecurity laboratory for that kind of work,’ asked Alkali
Ayade’s scientific understanding of the virus may have informed the early shutdown of his borders against neighbouring States to prevent, curb and contain the spread of the disease. But he’s taking advantage of the pandemic to have his state mass-produce facemasks for sale across the country has been criticized, by his critics, as mercantilist. Some others, on the other hand, see the move by the state government as ingenious and beneficial to the economy.
His proactive measures are believed by many in the state as the policy that has kept the virus out for now. One of the strategies included early closure of the Cross River-Akwa Ibom border at the Itu bridgehead and that of Gakim border with Benue State and other borders.
However, the main issue of public concern has been the use of facemasks and social distancing, which include the release of 50 cars to fight COVID-19 and the approval of N900 million from the account of the 18 Local Governments Councils.
Ayade had ordered compulsory use of facemasks without which movement is mandatorily restricted with N300,000 fine levied on any defaulter plus a 14-day quarantine for a period of six months.
He went further to order the state’s garment factory to produce one million facemasks and distribute free to the people, even though it failed to meet the target.
However, opposition parties and individuals are suspicious of the entire process, calling it a conduit pipe to milk the state dry, which they claim is similar to his handling of the superhighway and deep seaport projects. The conviction among this set of Ayade critics is that the project is unrealistic pipe dreams.
In a letter, dated April 6, 2020, sent through its Secretary to the State Government, Tina Agbor, to the Cross River House of Assembly, the state government ordered the compulsory contribution of N50 million each by the 18 Local Government Councils in the State (amounting to N900 million) to key into the fight against COVID-19 in the state.
This has further drawn the ire of Ayade-haters in the state who believe arm-twisting policy Local Councils amounted to Executive bullying of the third-tier of government on his part as head of the state’s government. Meanwhile, the state has just one isolation centre built by the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) on credit.
The contractor is reported to be on the neck of the UCTH management to pay his money. The isolation centre has only four beds and a ventilator, but the state government is considering the idea of converting its desolate Tinapa Resort into Covid-19 isolation centre in the event of any sudden spike of the pandemic in the State.
Recently, Ayade quietly directed the admission of 28 Oil-Rig workers, on self-quarantine, into the 250-room facility. Even though the Rig Workers have vacated the facility, the service by the state was reported to have been at their personal expense.
After much pressure, the Commissioner for Health Dr Betta Edu and her Finance counterpart, Asuquo Ekpenyong (Jr), in a briefing, confirmed the arrangement, adding that the Rig Workers were declared Covid-19 free. This nonetheless has caused a scare in the State.
Although Cross River is not doing total lockdown, its compulsory use of facemasks by all seems to have been hijacked by some unscrupulous and undisciplined personnel in the state’s security agencies, to beat up and manhandled commercial vehicle drivers, for not wearing one or carrying passengers that do not wear. This approach has generated anger from the people, especially as the government is yet to make the facemasks available.
Following the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria, Kogi State government ordered its civil servant to work from home from March 23, 2020. However, it exempted those on essential services and grade level 14, while 1-13 were affected by the ‘work from home’ directive.
On March 25, Governor Yahaya Bello shut down all land and water entry points, while passengers in commercial vehicles engaged in inter-State trips were made to pass through health checks.
He instructed intra-state buses and taxes to adhere strictly to the social distancing rules in the way they take in and accommodate passengers in their vehicles. For instance, buses take two passengers per row, while taxes have one passenger by the driver’s side and just two other passengers at the back seat.
Transport companies, unions and terminal operators were directed to keep manifest of all inbound and outbound passengers with verified phone numbers. Hand washing stands are made available at every garage just as every passenger vehicle must provide hand sanitizer for passengers who are under compulsion to cooperate with the commercial transporters.
Operations of commercial motorcycles popularly known as okada were suspended from March 26, while Bello set up enforcement committees to arrest and prosecute defaulters of the state anti-COVID-19 directives.
All these are in addition to the ban on all social, cultural and religious gathering, while gatherings that are of essential services by nature, such as pubs, restaurants, eateries were restricted to five persons at a time.
Now, that it is obvious that these states were neither ignorant nor passive as may have been the perception in many quarters, it would appear they had actually logged onto the cable to curb or contain coronavirus, far before Africa especially Nigeria, began to take the matter with the seriousness it deserved.
The measures applied by these states to get to where they are areas clinical as they are pedestrian with a pleasantly graphic impact, thus bursting the bubble of skeptics who probably never believed the states had the ability, capacity and capability to tackle the pandemic.
Lagos State as ably led by its governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had been seen as the state taking the lead in the application of aggressive measures to curb the spread of the virus in Nigeria. Despite all its sterling efforts, the nation’s economic capital currently still painfully blazes the nation’s trail of the highest number of infected and deaths at over 847 confirmed cases and 19 deaths.
But here it is; states least expected to possess such clinical capacity to contain Covid-19 and curb its spread have built a fortress around and within their communities. While the measures applied have fumigated the fabric of their neighbourhoods to reduce the prevalence of the pandemic, in their individual States, to a zero Covid-19 status.
The impression, many had, was that the three States were in league with Oyo State, whose Governor, Seyi Makinde, initially nursed an indulgently passive response to the pandemic, till he tested positive to the virus.
Now, here is evidence of the existence of actions taken by the governors of these three states that have held them strong within the unrelenting storm of Covid-19, shattering the perception that grouped them together on the same plane with Oyo.
Or, with Ogun State, whose policy against the pandemic was neither clear nor convincing enough to take it away from the club of the affected states, even at the 11th position it presently occupies on NCDC list of COVID-19 States.
This popular concern most Nigerians harboured concerning trio may have resulted from inadequate media lights to illuminate their individual anti-Covid-19 strides. The visibility, enjoyed by Lagos State because of its place as the economic hub of both Nigeria and West Africa, visibility enjoyed by Abuja by virtue of its position as Nigeria’s political power base and by Kaduna because of the controversial nature of the personality of its governor, is what placed these three aforementioned States at the forefront of the federating States’ prosecuting the war against the Covis-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, it may not yet be Uhuru for these three Star States since they are flanked on all sides by sister States with a growing number of infections and dead bodies.
To the North of Kogi State, for instance, is the Federal Capital Territory with over 158 confirmed cases and three deaths. Just a drive away is Kwara State with 11 infected people and counting. South of Lokoja is Ondo with eight confirmed cases, no deaths, yet and Edo with a frightening 30 infected and three fatalities.
Cross Rivers has as its immediate neighbours: Akwa Ibom with 12 cases and one death, a more manageable Ebonyi and the Benue States with just an index case each. Of these three zero Covid-19 States, Cross River is clearly in an uncomfortable place, as one of the few that share borders with another country, in this case, Cameroon. The West African country currently has over 1,874 cases, a disturbing 61 dead bodies and counting.
On the east side of the border and with a tolerable number of the confirmed at seven cases and no death, Jigawa stands between Yobe and Kano that is increasingly becoming the hub of the Covid-19 scourge, with unverified tens of thousands of infections and over 640 deaths. Looming large on its Eastern border is Borno with over 53 cases and two deaths.
Like Cross River, Yobe also has the misfortune of sharing a border with a foreign country as she is uncomfortably flanked on its Northern side by Niger which currently has over 720 cases and close to 40 deaths. These neighbours, with this discomfortingly scary statistic, may have potentially placed Yobe in a precariously worse predicament. Obviously, the pressure must have overwhelmed the plans and policies of the State to the point that one flew over the cuckoo’s nest to signal the entry of Yobe into the clan of Covid-19 states.
In the final analysis, no matter how impregnable the current measures adopted by these states, make their communities and neighbourhoods, their border states’ unceasing infections and deaths remain a potent threat to the stability of their status as zero Covid-19 index parts of the country.
Even though the cause or source of contamination of its first case is yet unknown, Yobe’s case illustrates the point that no state is safe from the pandemic.
If the virus had human attributes, one can see it issuing threats to Cross River and the Kogi States: ‘if you don’t have it now, you will most certainly get it later, at some point, somehow. One way or another.’