Nigeria is preparing for future outbreaks after COVID-19, says Buhari

Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said the country has started preparing for the next disease outbreak that the world could face after COVID-19.

Buhari made the disclosure in his speech to commemorate Nigeria’s 2020 Democracy Day celebration in Abuja.

Currently, Nigeria has 14, 554 cases of coronavirus having discharged 4,494 of the cases and suffered 387 deaths from the global pandemic which has overwhelmed many countries in the world.

While the number of cases has continued to rise in Nigeria, Buhari said his government is turning the current health crisis into a motivation to prepare for similar occurrences in the future.

“The Government is determined to turn this COVID-19 challenge into a motivation to action by building a nation-wide public health care system that will help us overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for any future outbreak,” Buhari said.

Buhari stated “there is no doubt that this pandemic has affected the global economy and all known socio-economic systems.”

The Nigerian president said he feels the pain and grief that coronavirus has caused. Buhari himself lost his former chief of staff Abba Kyari to coronavirus.

In search of a short-term solution to the global health crisis, Nigeria is one of many other African countries that took delivery of a drink reported to have cured people with coronavirus in Madagascar.

Nigeria’s Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 afterwards announced that the Madagascar coronavirus drink was undergoing scientific testing alongside two other locally produced drugs to cure coronavirus. It is. however, yet to provide an update on the capacity of the drugs as at Thursday, June 11.

While the World Health Organisation is yet to approve any cure for coronavirus, Buhari said Nigeria “have begun to look inward” and charged “our inventors, researchers and scientists to come up with solutions to cure COVID-19.”

The president implored all Nigerians to abide by the approved guidelines and protocols by the health ministry and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

“There is hope for us all if we take individual and collective responsibility,” Buhari said.