Profile picture
, 9 tweets, 7 min read
My Authors
Read all threads
As #COVID19 makes #landfall in #Nigeria as a #publichealth challenge, it's worth recalling that @Mbuhari was the 1st &, so far, only #Nigerian head of state or President to have made the state of #Nigeria's #healthsystems his reason for taking over power.

#COVIDNAIJA
When he sent Gen. Abacha ahead to announce his arrival in power on 31 Dec 1983, @Mbuhari asked him to say this:

"Health services are in shambles as our hospitals are reduced to mere consulting clinics without drugs, water and equipment."

#COVIDNAIJA

ynaija.com/armed-forces-r…
Gen Abacha said much more that remains true today:

"There is inadequacy of food at reasonable prices for our people who are now fed up with endless announcements of importation of foodstuffs. Our educational system is deteriorating at an alarming rate"

ynaija.com/armed-forces-r…
And more....

"Unemployment figures including the undergraduates have reached embarrassing & unacceptable proportions. In some states, workers are being owed salary arrears of eight to twelve months & in others there are threats of salary cuts."

ynaija.com/armed-forces-r…
When Fidel Castro was ill, the hospitals he built & the Drs he trained nursed him happily, prolonged his life & cared for him until his last breath in Cuba. Today, they have a corps Drs helping Italy in a tradition of humanitarian diplomacy.

#COVIDNAIJA

nytimes.com/2016/11/26/wor…
When Nelson Mandela was mortally ill grateful Drs in the country he liberated cared for him in the hospitals he helped to expand access to until his dying breath.

#COVIDNAIJA

theguardian.com/world/2013/mar…
On December 31 1983, Maj-Gen @MBuhari became the 1st - &, so far, only - ruler in #Nigeria's history to explicitly cite the state of the hospitals as reason for overthrowing his predecessor from power. That is a commendable thing.

#COVIDNAIJA
This is why I harbour no fears for #Mbuhari's condition evn as he's clearly enfeebled because all the Drs & medics he's produced in the uncountable hospitals he's built in his 2 tours of duty in @NGRPresident will be there to look after him & his retinue

U have to credit the acuity of anyone who cld see #publichealth as justification for taking over power 37 yrs ago. Today, as the greatest #PublicHealth challenge in a century makes landfall, u have to congratulate him for having done everything to prepare the country, Hurraaay!
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Enjoying this thread?

Keep Current with Chidi Odinkalu

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Related hashtags

#COVID19 #landfall #Nigeria #PublicHealth #Nigerian #healthsystems #COVIDNAIJA #Mbuhari

More from @ChidiOdinkalu see all

Profile picture
Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
Does #Nigeria have #COVID19 test centre outside the 5 @NCDCgov molecular lab network:

1. @acegid_lab in Ede, Osun
2. NCDC National Ref Lab, Abuja
3. @ISTH_Irrua , Edo
4. @LUTHofficial Virology Lab
5. @nimrnigeria, Lagos.

None in the North; none in SE. But we like the figures?
If there isn't, then I am willing to go out on a limb & wager the numbers being put out by @NCDCgov right now may be part of the problem rather than part of the solution in giving people a false sense of security, since testing isn't really available to most who cld need it.
So, look at the political geography of access to testing: if you present with symptoms in Calabar or Port Harcourt, u have to motor specimen to Irrua; From Katsina or Damaturu or Yola, it's a v long ride to Abuja. Where is the storage to make sure specimens don't degrade?
Read 6 tweets
Profile picture
Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
#Africa between the Tropics of Cancer & Capricorn has bn fortunate so far wth confirmed cases of the virus that Zimbabwe's @edmnangagwa complains didn't give notice. But while #COVID19 notice period marinates, what have the continent's rulers done? THREAD
zanupf.org.zw/covid19-is-no-…
If anything, u cld say West Africa got a bit of a #headstart in pandemic virus management with exposure to the #EbolaVirusDisease, #EVD, 5 yrs ago. Sierra Leone, Guinea-Conakry & #Nigeria were 3 countries in the region that saw #EVD up close. So how have the prepared?
U can choose where u begin but Sierra Leone is as good a place as any: it was epicentre of another virus, Ebola, just 5 yrs ago. While #COVID19 was processing entry visa in China, on 21 Feb, @PresidentBio decided to wed a 2nd time a wife he wedded in 2013

cocorioko.net/the-maada-bio-…
Read 12 tweets
Profile picture
Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
Nearly 15 yrs ago, 8 dead bodies washed up on the coast of Banjul, Gambia. It was the beginning of a saga that wld reveal how then President, Yahya Jammeh, ordered the #massmurder of 54 irregular #WestAfrican migrants. It's the story of #Jammeh2Justice...

Of the 56 #WestAfricans murdered, at least 44 were from Ghana. Others came from #Nigeria, Senegal, Togo. They were looking to go to Spain through irregular routes when their boat detoured inexplicably into the Banjul harbour.

#Jammeh2Justice

reuters.com/article/us-gam…
The killings were done by an elite #hitsquad maintained by Jammeh as President. They were called #TheJunglers. They claimed that migrants were supposed to be part of a team of #mercenaries sent to overthrow the Jammeh regime.

#Jammeh2Justice

theguardian.com/global-develop…
Read 11 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
Dr. Guendouzi ( Young Lion )
@fimiletoks
I have carried out some personal studies on the #COVIDー19 situation in Nigeria and let me say here that we have another 2 weeks window to seize control or fall apart. We are not in that bad phase yet.

1st case - 25th of February
51st case - 26th of March
Are we testing enough? No. Is the disease spreading rapidly? No. Despite our nonchalant attitude, the attack rate seem a bit low here.

Young population / immunity? Maybe. If we assume that there are cases out there untested, it's almost a month after the first case..
There is no community spread yet. If there were cases untested, they should have been critically ill by now, regardless we should two batches of critically ill persons in Lagos who would either recover at home, forced to present at the hospital or die.
Read 6 tweets
Profile picture
Alex Andreou
@sturdyAlex
BREAKING: Palace confirms Prince Charles has tested positive for #COVIDー19.
Although people are rightly angry there are not enough tests for NHS and other key workers, the notion the Prince of Wales should not have been tested is ludicrous. I detest the monarchy as a system of gov’t, but he is - rightly or wrongly - the successor for Head of State.
As a side note, I’m sure that Queen to Windsor, Charles to Birkhall, William to Amner etc. is part of a fairly strict, formalised plan to separate the succession line, in emergencies like these, rather than all of them deciding to give a bad example and take a holiday.
Read 4 tweets
Profile picture
Son of David
@DrOlusesan
GIVE ME FOOD, FORGET THE VIRUS
Nigerians fear hunger more than they fear death. Nigerians will buy hope, and buy sex, before they buy safety. Pandemonium will likely start killing here, ahead of #COVIDー19, and I foresee a possibility of us crashing the economy ahead of time.
My fear stems from the unsystematic shutdown and proposed lockdown without a widely analyzed 'cause and effect,' and without FG's financial mitigations spelt out to all. Soon, Abia thats owing months of salaries too will join the bandwagon and send its workers home, empty handed.
@Olusegunverdict rightly stated that "hunger is as bad as #coronavirus." States and all commerce tiers in Nigeria are at various state of unwillingness to close doors to income. An event planner has four event bookings in Ibadan this weekend, whose clients have refused to cancel.
Read 8 tweets
Profile picture
Ahmed Quraishi
@_AhmedQuraishi
#COVIDー19 crisis response is another area where the performance of Prime Minister #ImranKhan's cabinet is inadequate & late resulting in a rapid surge in #coronavirus cases+infections. His TV address was unimpressive. @ImranKhanPTI can learn from @realDonaldTrump & @NYGovCuomo.
Unlike #USA+#Europe, #Pakistan is right next door to two epicenters of #COVIDー19 spread: #China & #Iran. China was initially late but later took impressive steps to contain the spread, incl quarantining #Pakistani citizens. Unlike Iran where Pk citizens visited in large numbrs.
What steps did PM #ImranKhan take for a #CoronaFreePakistan when it was obvious #Pakistan faced #COVIDー19 spread threat from #Iran; & when it became obvious that almost every neighbor incl #Iraq+#Turkey+#Gulf traced 1st cases to Iran & when #Tehran failed to warn neighbors?
Read 13 tweets
Profile picture
Atiku Abubakar
@atiku
I received with sadness the policy of the government of the United States of America to place @Nigeria on its travel ban list.
While I understand the reasons given by the Trump administration (the failure of the @MBuhari led administration to share information and to address issues of terrorism), the ban does not take into account the pro-American sentiments of the Nigerian public...
...and the solidarity previous Nigerian administrations have had with the United States.

I urge the government of President @realDonaldTrump to consider the history of US-Nigerian relationships.
Read 10 tweets
Profile picture
Christoph Koettl
@ckoettl
#Nigeria’s military used a speech by Donald Trump to justify shooting at protesters in October. We investigated what happened and uncovered that an elite battalion fired machine guns into a crowd of unarmed marchers. nyti.ms/2GwdKAW
The military @HQNigerianArmy made several questionable claims:

1. The marchers blocked traffic.
2. The marchers attacked a military checkpoint with weapons and rocks.
3. Only 3 people were killed.
We reviewed hundreds of videos and pictures, went to the crime scene in #Abuja, interviewed survivors and talked to the military. Here’s how we did it - and what we found out.
Read 22 tweets

Trending hashtags

#fields #Hezbollah #ISWAP #DisneyWorld #Vault7 #UK #IS #Hasakah #Tether #BrockPierce #Kobane #apartheid #DeepState #Mossad #Nigeria #foreign #Africa #EU #Lattakia #CIA #CrimesAgainstHumanity #USA #AnOpenSecret #Zuckerberg #Geopolitics

Embed code for your website

×
Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!