A Nigerian virologist and Chairman of the Expert Review Committee on COVID-19, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, has alerted that out of the 100 laboratories set up in Nigeria during the COVID 19 scourge ,that over 60 of them are presently non functional
He, therefore ,doubted Nigeria’ s preparedness to tackle the disease despite the newly detected XEC COVID-19 variant in some other countries.
the country.
Tomori disclosed this at the 10th Annual International Bioethics Forum held recently at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research in Yaba, Lagos State.
“…They have a page where they list over 60 laboratories that are not functioning anymore. So, we are back to square one,”he added
The renowned virologist further explained the implications of the negligence and the need to find ways to solve the problem.
He said, “For us to now have six years of labs not functioning, after all the money we spent on those labs, something is wrong somewhere. And we must continue to challenge it anywhere we go.”
The New Daily Prime reported on December 8 that the Federal Government declared that there is no evidence of the new COVID variant, XEC, in Nigeria despite its presence in Australia and 29 other countries.
Speaking in the same vein, the Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations, Alabi Balogun, in the Ministry of Health, said precautionary measures have been taken by the Federal Government as isolation centres, intensive care units, and others are established at federal tertiary hospitals.
Reacting to FG utterance towards tackling this virus if there is an outbreak, the health expert said the NCDC should speak out on their discovery to convince Nigeria.
Tomori said while explaining the slow progression of NCDC, “When the Ministry of Health said that we shouldn’t have any fear or something, the question I ask is: if you want to convince me, is for NCDC to tell me I’ve tested 600 samples and none was positive.”
“That’s the assurance we want. It’s not a statement from the State House to say we don’t have it. It is NCDC who is in charge of this, and they should be the ones to tell us. If it was said by the minister, he should have said the NCDC said we tested X number and no cases,” Tomori said.
Speaking further on the manner in which the health declaration form is being filled, Tomori said he feels ashamed of the entire process after what he witnessed at the borders over a few or three visits.
“I’ve been through our borders a few or three times, and the way they are handling even the filling of the forms, I am ashamed of this country. They tell you to snap the form, go and fill it out at home, and bring it back. We don’t do things like that,” he said.
Challenging the authenticity of the forms filled, the World Health Organisation’s Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 vaccine composition member quipped, “All these forms we are filling, do you give feedback to the society? NCDC is the one to tell us we don’t have COVID in this country.”
He urged Nigerians, particularly the elderly and people with health issues, to be safety cautious; urging to them to wear a face mask, acknowledging that ethics are mandatory in all spheres of life while defining ethics as a foundation.
Director General of NIMR, Prof. John Obafunwa, emphasised the significant impact of the conference while reaffirming the initiator’s commitment in addressing critical issues that permeate research and practice in Nigeria.
