Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, has said he never knew Nigeria’s healthcare system was in a very bad state until the coronavirus pandemic began.
He said the coronavirus pandemic has exposed him to the state of Nigeria’s healthcare infrastructure.
Mustapha said this during the task force meeting with the leadership of the national assembly in Abuja on Thursday.
“I can tell you for sure, I never knew that our entire healthcare infrastructure was in the state in which it is util I was appointed to do this work,” the SGF said.
He said if developed countries are overwhelmed and struggling to contain the coronavirus, “then Nigeria needs to improve its own”.
“My prayer is that Nigeria’s situation does not escalate to that extent because the country lacked what is required to handle the situation,” he added.
While speaking on the need for transparency and accountability in managing the Covid-19, Mustapha noted that the task force will not be directly involved in the disbursement of cash donations for COVID-19.
“The accountant-general of the federation has already published the account details for collection through some commercial banks and also provided the modalities for its utilisation,” he said.
“All the main COVID-19 accounts shall be domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). However, all non-cash donations shall be duly received by the PTF, acknowledged, documented and appropriately deployed.”
