Governance and political agenda against coronavirus

Eze Onyekpere

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of a centralised and coordinated federal response bring to the fore the question of leadership in Nigeria. It throws up the question of a governance and political agenda for health. In responding to COVID-19, what is the role of the President and the Federal Government and what are the expectations from states and local governments? A clearly defined agenda sets the foundations for the containment of the pandemic as uncoordinated and haphazard responses will complicate issues.

The first point to note is that COVID-19 is not a national or regional pandemic but a global one which demands coordination at the highest levels of global governance. At the national level, action is required at the federal level for a harmonised and coordinated response to the challenge. The President is expected to lead the struggle against the pandemic as the highest elected official and in consideration of the fact that COVID-19 is a life and death challenge. Also, it is not just about health, but a pandemic that strikes at the very foundations of our economic well-being and revenue base. The collapse of oil price would have negatively and strongly affected the economy. When this is compounded by the recommended lockdown and sit-at-home order needed to break the chain of its spread, it is clear that Nigeria is going through serious health, economic and social challenges.

The second point is that the President is expected to provide the governance and political agenda for containing the pandemic and getting the economy back to work. In this regard, he is expected to be visible, lead from the front and from time to time, address Nigerians and give hope and succour to the generality of the populace. If the President is unable to lead in this regard, he is under obligation to ask the Vice President who is elected as the number two citizen to lead the process. The good thing about this position is that Nigeria has a very cerebral Vice President who has demonstrated strong leadership qualities. This is the time to allow the Vice President to use the same skills that saw him going around the country distributing Tradermoni during the elections to sensitise and mobilise Nigerians for a united action against the pandemic.

Nigeria can no longer afford a President who is aloof, seems not to care and will have his media handlers abuse Nigerians simply because discerning Nigerians called on their principal to address the nation. Garba Shehu, a media aide to the President, labelling such a request as “cheap politics” is the height of disrespect for fellow citizens while Femi Adesina, who thinks and asserts that the President’s “style” is about not talking to Nigerians, clearly misunderstood his brief. It is not about the President’s style; it is about doing what is right and living up to the demands of the office. If the President had the style of not talking to Nigerians, why did he come out to campaign for the office? He should have stayed in his house, announced his candidature and expected us to vote for him.

The third point is that there is the need for effective collaboration between the executive and legislative arms of government in a pandemic of this nature. The expectation was that while contemplating the overall budget cut or re-articulation of appropriation votes, the President should have moved expeditiously to request for specific appropriation approval from the National Assembly dedicated to containing the pandemic. Such a financial vote would have been used in constricting new isolation centres or renovating existing facilities that will be converted for such use, Intensive Care Units, procuring laboratory and testing equipment, protective clothing, ambulances, needed drugs and possible incentives to health personnel. The announcement earlier in the week that the President authorised the release of money to Lagos State and to the health sector is not enough because the quantum of resources needed will not be such that the President can unilaterally approve without appropriation.

The fourth point is that the legislature exists to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the federation and the states. Legislators from the federal to state levels have been insisting on constituency projects. At the federal level, this is about N100bn every year. In this period of the pandemic, it makes eminent sense to recommend that all constituency projects should be redesigned by the legislature and the resources be channelled to the containment of the virus. For instance, in states with no laboratories, the legislators can use their votes to procure one. When the resources for federal and state constituency projects are aggregated, we would have an initial fund of not less than N150bn.

The fifth point is that National Health Policy states that there is an existing framework for oversight of programme implementation, starting with the National Council on Health at the highest level. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, has the National Council on Health comprising state commissioners of health and the minister of health as the chairperson, met, either physically or virtually? If they met, are their resolutions in the public domain? The need for the meeting of this Council cannot be over-emphasised so that all states will be working on the same template to ensure a harmonised approach to halting the pandemic. The Council should have ensured that every state has testing and laboratory facilities as well as isolation centres and hospitals that can treat the disease. Considering that health is on the concurrent legislative list, the meeting of the Council should have provided an opportunity for division of labour between the states and the Federal Government. Agreement could have been reached on what the Federal Government would be responsible for and the duties assigned to the states. Even if this Council did not meet, an expanded agenda for the National Economic Council comprising the Vice President and governors would have been a good forum to visit these issues.

The sixth is that it appears that every state of the federation is taking steps it deems fit without federal direction. Governors are announcing the closure of their state entry points and this raises several issues. Should there be a federal policy guidance in this regard as there has been no uniformity of action in the steps taken by the states? State A closes its entry points while state B still leaves them open. Airlines decided to close on their own, mainly because they were flying empty and it was becoming economically unsustainable to insist on running scheduled flights with virtually empty planes. Very few states have laboratories and equipment to test and verify that a suspected person has the virus or is free. In the entire South East geopolitical zone, there is no single testing facility. Yet, we are assured by the federal and state governments that they are ready to contain the pandemic!

Finally, this pandemic can be contained within weeks if a governance and political agenda is devised by our political leaders through a consensus initiated by the President and bought into by other elected and appointed officers. The ruling party at the federal level and other political parties need to devise solutions to the pandemic. Nigeria needs a governance and political agenda against the coronavirus pandemic.