FG Begs Looters To Return Vaccines, Medical Consumables

The Federal Government has expressed shock at the looting of
some warehouses across the country, begging those who looted
medical storage facilities to return the vaccines and other medical
consumables they carted away.

Government also explained the inability of some states to
complete the distribution of palliatives sent to them by CA-COVID,
a private sector coalition supporting the national response against
COVID-19.

It urged state governments not to also shut down their isolation
centres, saying there is need to be at alert in case of a
resurgence of the pandemic.

Speaking at a media briefing by the Presidential Taskforce PTF
on COVID-19, Chairman of the PTF and Secretary to the Government of
the Federation SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, said CA-COVID worked with the
state governments in the distribution of their palliatives.

He said; “Of particular concern to the PTF, is the issue of
palliatives found and looted from various warehouses around the
country. It is important to make the following clarifications. The
Federal Government Palliatives consisted largely of the 70MT of
grains released from the Strategic Grain Reserves as well as rice
secured from the Nigerian Customs Service. The share for each State
were handed over to the State Governments for onward distribution
to the citizens.

“The private sector coalition (CACOVID) that has been quite
supportive of the Federal Government, worked with the States
through the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to determine the quantum of
their intervention, which was intended to be effective and
equitable. A number of indices were worked out for this purpose.
The National Coordinator shall also provide further distinction and
the modus operandi for the distribution of the palliatives donated
to the states by the coalition”.

Minister of state, Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, on his part
warned against the closure of isolation centres in the states.

He said with the decline in the number of active cases and the
number of cases on admission drops, some isolation centres in the
country are already making arrangements to rationalize the number
of frontline health personnel into the reserve pool or
redeployed.

“This would be done in a manner that will allow easy
re-mobilization where necessary.

“We, however advise states and relevant stakeholders not to
completely close all isolation centres due to consistent lack of
patients but some centres should rather be maintained. This is to
ensure promptness and readiness against any surge as part of
preparation against possible second wave.

“We are taking advantage of this low active cases to carry out
appraisal and reappraisal of activities at the isolation centres.
This is necessary to assess and understand areas of strengths,
weaknesses, available opportunities as well as dangers. Such
activities will consolidate gains while taking measures to prevent
re-occurrence of errors as well as deployment of appropriate
resources.

“We are also making arrangements for stock taking and
repurposing of equipment earlier deployed to temporary isolation
centres with a view to using the opportunity provided by the
resource Mobilisation for the COVID-19 response for health systems
strengthening”, he stated.

Mamora also appealed to the youths to stop crashing into
government medical stores, begging those who carted away items to
return them.

He said most of the medicines and medical consumables in these
stores are stored under controlled environmental conditions such as
temperatures and humidity.

“Disruption of these conditions would render them ineffective
and in some cases poisonous. The NCDC warehouse in Idu is used for
the storage of medical and laboratory consumables and equipment.
Destruction of these items will impact negatively on our response
to this pandemic. I also call on all who are in possession of
vaccines, medicines and other equipment and consumables to please
return them. Those that can still be salvaged will be used and
those that can not will be disposed off properly”, he
disclosed.

National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu explained the
relationship between CA-COVID and the states, saying depending on
the delivery schedule, not all states have completed the process of
distributing items sent to them.

Aliyu said; “We are all shocked by the events of the last few
days. Some of our warehouses do not contain food items. They
contain medical equipment, they contain test kits and valuable
items that are very important to the COVID-19 response. Therefore,
we are pleading with all those who are currently in the process of
planning to attack them, to desist from doing so. It is important
that our assets are protected.

“On CA-COVID, it is a private sector initiative which was set up
in the early part of the response and the PTF has worked very
closely with CA-COVID to deliver some of our key mandates.

“The process of distributing palliatives is integrated and also
very complex. It is also important to stress that palliatives need
to be distributed with the greatest urgency so that millions of
struggling Nigerians recieve the economic support.

“CA-COVID has also been working with the Nigeria Governors’
Forum NGF and the FCT to procure and distribute palliatives to 11.7
million families across all 774 locals government areas in 36
states and the FCT. It started in April and is an unprecedented
relief effort. The sheer scale of the food programme by CA-COVID
meant that the programme had to be delivered in a staggered and
controlled manner. Out of the 11.7 million supplies awarded, 11
million were confirmed to have been delivered and 17 states had 100
percent delivery in terms of the schedule and a kick off exercise
was conducted. Twelve states have over 85 percent of delivery
reached. Only eight states did not have a flag off or formal hand
over of these commodities. Of the eight, two had 100 percent
delivery reached and the process for teg kick off exercise is
gradually in place, whereas the remaining six states had 68 percent
of delivery reached.

“Since the relief effort began with CA-COVID and the state
governments in early August, official hand over of the palliatives
have taken place in 28 states and the FCT and these states have
been distributing at various times based on needs. It is also
important to clarify that some of these state governments had
actually bought their own palliatives that they are
distributing.

“As of October 25th, several states had confirmed the completion
of their distribution. It is therefore quiet concerning that we
continue to see images of looting in the social media given all the
work that has been going on and the goodwill of the private sector
to support the COVID-19 response. We do understand the underlying
issues, but we continue to plead with the general public to
exercise restraint and allow this process to conclude”, he
urged.

The Federal Government has expressed shock at the looting of
some warehouses across the country, begging those who looted
medical storage facilities to return the vaccines and other medical
consumables they carted away.

Government also explained the inability of some states to
complete the distribution of palliatives sent to them by CA-COVID,
a private sector coalition supporting the national response against
COVID-19.

It urged state governments not to also shut down their isolation
centres, saying there is need to be at alert in case of a
resurgence of the pandemic.

Speaking at a media briefing by the Presidential Taskforce PTF
on COVID-19, Chairman of the PTF and Secretary to the Government of
the Federation SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, said CA-COVID worked with the
state governments in the distribution of their palliatives.

He said; “Of particular concern to the PTF, is the issue of
palliatives found and looted from various warehouses around the
country. It is important to make the following clarifications. The
Federal Government Palliatives consisted largely of the 70MT of
grains released from the Strategic Grain Reserves as well as rice
secured from the Nigerian Customs Service. The share for each State
were handed over to the State Governments for onward distribution
to the citizens.

“The private sector coalition (CACOVID) that has been quite
supportive of the Federal Government, worked with the States
through the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to determine the quantum of
their intervention, which was intended to be effective and
equitable. A number of indices were worked out for this purpose.
The National Coordinator shall also provide further distinction and
the modus operandi for the distribution of the palliatives donated
to the states by the coalition”.

Minister of state, Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, on his part
warned against the closure of isolation centres in the states.

He said with the decline in the number of active cases and the
number of cases on admission drops, some isolation centres in the
country are already making arrangements to rationalize the number
of frontline health personnel into the reserve pool or
redeployed.

“This would be done in a manner that will allow easy
re-mobilization where necessary.

“We, however advise states and relevant stakeholders not to
completely close all isolation centres due to consistent lack of
patients but some centres should rather be maintained. This is to
ensure promptness and readiness against any surge as part of
preparation against possible second wave.

“We are taking advantage of this low active cases to carry out
appraisal and reappraisal of activities at the isolation centres.
This is necessary to assess and understand areas of strengths,
weaknesses, available opportunities as well as dangers. Such
activities will consolidate gains while taking measures to prevent
re-occurrence of errors as well as deployment of appropriate
resources.

“We are also making arrangements for stock taking and
repurposing of equipment earlier deployed to temporary isolation
centres with a view to using the opportunity provided by the
resource Mobilisation for the COVID-19 response for health systems
strengthening”, he stated.

Mamora also appealed to the youths to stop crashing into
government medical stores, begging those who carted away items to
return them.

He said most of the medicines and medical consumables in these
stores are stored under controlled environmental conditions such as
temperatures and humidity.

“Disruption of these conditions would render them ineffective
and in some cases poisonous. The NCDC warehouse in Idu is used for
the storage of medical and laboratory consumables and equipment.
Destruction of these items will impact negatively on our response
to this pandemic. I also call on all who are in possession of
vaccines, medicines and other equipment and consumables to please
return them. Those that can still be salvaged will be used and
those that can not will be disposed off properly”, he
disclosed.

National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu explained the
relationship between CA-COVID and the states, saying depending on
the delivery schedule, not all states have completed the process of
distributing items sent to them.

Aliyu said; “We are all shocked by the events of the last few
days. Some of our warehouses do not contain food items. They
contain medical equipment, they contain test kits and valuable
items that are very important to the COVID-19 response. Therefore,
we are pleading with all those who are currently in the process of
planning to attack them, to desist from doing so. It is important
that our assets are protected.

“On CA-COVID, it is a private sector initiative which was set up
in the early part of the response and the PTF has worked very
closely with CA-COVID to deliver some of our key mandates.

“The process of distributing palliatives is integrated and also
very complex. It is also important to stress that palliatives need
to be distributed with the greatest urgency so that millions of
struggling Nigerians recieve the economic support.

“CA-COVID has also been working with the Nigeria Governors’
Forum NGF and the FCT to procure and distribute palliatives to 11.7
million families across all 774 locals government areas in 36
states and the FCT. It started in April and is an unprecedented
relief effort. The sheer scale of the food programme by CA-COVID
meant that the programme had to be delivered in a staggered and
controlled manner. Out of the 11.7 million supplies awarded, 11
million were confirmed to have been delivered and 17 states had 100
percent delivery in terms of the schedule and a kick off exercise
was conducted. Twelve states have over 85 percent of delivery
reached. Only eight states did not have a flag off or formal hand
over of these commodities. Of the eight, two had 100 percent
delivery reached and the process for teg kick off exercise is
gradually in place, whereas the remaining six states had 68 percent
of delivery reached.

“Since the relief effort began with CA-COVID and the state
governments in early August, official hand over of the palliatives
have taken place in 28 states and the FCT and these states have
been distributing at various times based on needs. It is also
important to clarify that some of these state governments had
actually bought their own palliatives that they are
distributing.

“As of October 25th, several states had confirmed the completion
of their distribution. It is therefore quiet concerning that we
continue to see images of looting in the social media given all the
work that has been going on and the goodwill of the private sector
to support the COVID-19 response. We do understand the underlying
issues, but we continue to plead with the general public to
exercise restraint and allow this process to conclude”, he
urged.