MALLAM HAS SAID THERE’S NO CORONA
Olusegun Adeniyi argues for a coordinated response to the health emergency
On a positive note, it is in moments of crisis like this that leaders are made and we are seeing quite a few in our country. From the Lagos State Health Commissioner, Prof Akin Abayomi to Chikwe Ihekweazu at NCDC to young professionals like Tokini Peterside who is exploiting both her ART X network and her father’s ANAP Foundation, there are many Nigerians on the frontline of the campaign to help rid our country of coronavirus as quickly as possible. Even the two market women who spoke passionately to Premium Times in the trending video about ‘the disease of the Egyptians’ brought by rich Nigerians to disturb the poor should be commended for their insight. But for me, the real revelation of this season is Ikharo Attah, chairman of the FCT ministerial task team. From churches to mosques, the fear of Attah is now the beginning of wisdom in Abuja for those who refuse to do the right thing. Yet he is performing his task with courtesy and without the usual Nigeria ‘gra gra’. He is passing a strong message about the efficacy of civility in the conduct of public affairs.
I am particularly delighted because I know Attah very well as he was a State House Correspondent when I was at the Villa in another world. He is still on the beat for ITV Television. The story of how he got the assignment is rather interesting but it is about preparation meeting opportunity. “On 18th September last year, I complained to the FCT minister about the traffic gridlock at Nyanya. He invited me to see him the next day. I arrived at his office expecting an exclusive interview. I was shocked when, in the presence of his top personnel, he announced me as the chairman of the FCT Traffic management task force. After a while I saw the assignment as a challenge to journalism and that has been my part-time job until this COVID-19 enforcement operation came and some FCT officials insisted I play a lead role,” Attah told me yesterday.
From the foregoing, there are two issues we must address to effectively tackle this pandemic which threatens our nation in so many ways. The first is to ensure a coordinated response to the health emergency. Information management is key and we are, to put it mildly, not doing well in that area. With COVID-19 creeping into major cities, deliberate steps must be taken to ensure that we don’t end up with the Ebola crisis that lasted two years in some African countries, leaving in its wake death and destruction. But the greater challenge confronting us is managing the economic fall-out of the crisis. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was on Monday appointed to chair an economic sustainability committee. Although we do not yet know what exactly that means, including the composition of its membership and the terms of reference, the committee has its job already cut out for it.
Saudi and other low-cost producers continue to flood the market with crude oil at discounted prices of between $18 and $22 per barrel, at the expense of Nigeria’s average crude oil production cost of about $30 per barrel. Economic projections for this year are already out the window. Apart from the risks of oil price volatility and the associated decline in foreign exchange flow, we have to contend with production uncertainties arising from frequent disruptions due to insecurity and community issues. Operators in the industry have to therefore endure extended budgetary provision for securing and maintaining oil gas infrastructure. This makes it more expensive to produce a barrel of oil in Nigeria compared to other competing climes, especially in the Middle East.
Looking at the 2020 budget deficit reaching as much as $35 per barrel and the out-of-plan expenditure mode switched on by federal government to halt COVID-19 spread, it is obvious that our people must brace up for an impending harsh economic winter. When I spoke to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing
Director, Mr Mele Kyari on the way forward yesterday, he shared with me their short and medium-term plans with the ultimate goal being “a diversification drive to expand midstream gas infrastructure and improve power generation and the growth of gasbased industries.” But such fortunes ‘in the pipeline’ will be no music to the ears of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) when commissioners of finance from the 36 states gather at the end of the month for their share of oil proceeds.
In the end, it is obvious that Nigerians will need to prepare and brace ourselves up for the immediate, short, medium and long-term implications of this global pandemic. And this will necessarily have health, social, political and economic ramifications. But as bad as the situation may seem, coronavirus is not a death sentence and we must continue to stress that. In fact, many of those infected by the virus have already begun telling their stories of how they beat it. For those who may want more details from a survivor, I recommend the account of Dana Goldstein, a reporter with New York Times. https://twitter.com/DanaGoldstein/ status/1245019559855378438.
To all my readers who are on lockdown, please stay safe. And stay well!