The #Coronavirus response in Nigeria
How small acts of resistance can make a big difference
Its all been a gloomy few weeks for Nigeria. A lot of people feel alone, afraid, helpless and hopeless as the numbers continue to climb.
So today I want to tell a story about hope. About how we are fighting back. About how we can all fight back. About the resistance.
One of the most famous resistance movements in history is the Jewish resistance under Nazi Germany. Even under the worst circumstances. Against a ruthless, seemingly unbeatable enemy. They resisted. I have been thinking about those stories a lot lately.
I first started talking about how a ‘mysterious virus’ in China could become a global epidemic on the 6th of January 2020.
As number of cases grew, I started advocating louder. Making phone calls to all the influential Nigerians that I knew, hoping we could put aggressive measures in place to prevent an outbreak in Nigeria. But its spread to Nigeria was practically inevitable.
Nigeria’s index case was confirmed, ironically on my birthday; I felt personally attacked! But also inspired by the leadership I have seen across Nigeria which I will be focusing on in this article:
The faces of the Nigerian resistance
- The Lagos State Governor and the Commissioner for Health
The government especially in Lagos State has been incredibly proactive. The Governor of Lagos State; a former banker has quite incredibly in the space of a few weeks, achieved mastery of an entire lexicon of medical lingo from intensive care to virology. The Governor of Lagos state, whatever your political views has brought a huge amount of energy and leadership to the resistance. Even in the most difficult situations, he has remained anitifragile.
Antifragile doesn’t mean strong, because strong is still defined by its breaking point. Antifragile means the more you attack it, the stronger it gets.
The commissioner for health in Lagos: Professor Abayomi is a biosecurity expert with vast experience in public health, we are lucky to have this team to lead us through this difficult time. Learn more about him here.
2. Dr Amara Allison
She was the medical officer who diagnosed Nigeria’s first case of Covid-19. It was her brilliance that led to the detection of the case.
Allison is a doctor at Lafarge Plc, a cement manufacturer.
3. Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, DG of the Nigerian centre for disease control
I saw Dr Chikwe a few days ago and I can confirm that his skin is no longer as yellow as in the picture below. Driving/flying from one state to the other in the hot Nigerian sun, fighting an enemy that you can’t see, isn’t listed as a cause of hyperpigmentation in any medical textbook. However, this pandemic has definitely given Dr Chikwe a few more grey hairs and slightly darker skin :-)
He has been a key figure in the resistance movement in Nigeria. A highly trained infectious disease epidemiologist he has prepared and been trained to fight epidemics all of his professional life. From communication, to regulation, to disease management, to protocols to collaboration Dr Chikwe’s leadership has been exemplary.
4. Alhaji Aliko Dangote
Nigeria’s richest man has rallied Nigeria’s private sector together to form a coalition against Covid-19. His foundation has also built isolation centres from scratch in collaboration with the government.
5. The heroes behind the masks: our healthcare workers
This is a picture of some of the volunteers: doctors and nurses working at the Eti Osa isolation centre that I & my team from YPO helped to design, build and fund for Lagos State.
What peculiar is that we see the faces of the billionaires, the politicians and the technocrats. They give interviews on television and share pictures of their contributions on social media. However, our healthcare workers, the very foundation of the resistance are anonymous.
One textbook that every medical student & doctor values like a fifth limb is the Oxford Handbook of clinical medicine. If you don’t have this textbook, you should really ask yourself if your are a medical doctor or a witch doctor.
Before going into the detailed , life-saving medicine , the introduction of the book focuses on why there are no famous doctors. The introduction points out that the most famous doctors are actually fictional like Dr Dre or Dr Seus or Dr Frankinstein. Its so interesting that one of the most important medical textbooks ever written, begins with a section that manages doctors expectations. Its almost like a warning to young physicians that they will work extremely hard, but will generally remain unseen, uncelebrated, unrecognized and under-rewarded.
Its the people whose faces we never see that are the most important faces of the resistance in Nigeria and globally
Our President had to make the painful, but necessary decision to enforce a lockdown in Nigeria to reduce the spread of the virus. But every now an then, I look at cities like New York and countries like Italy where where thousands die everyday even though the healthcare infrastructure is much stronger. And I feel a little despair. Can we win? Will our resistance prevail?
When I feel like this I remember this quote from Victor Frankl one of
the most powerful figures of the Jewish resistance.
He said:
‘Between stimulus and response there
is a space. In that space is our power to choose
our response.In our response lies our growth
and our freedom’
This quote reminds me of all the small acts of stubbornness, doggedness and defiance that characterized the Jewish resistances. It helps me find inspiration as we fight against this virus that threatens our way of life.
Over the past few weeks we (our group of healthcare companies)/I (in my personal capacity )have worked in healthcare space in three main areas.
1. Advocacy/Awareness and Food
Online social media
Offline television; watch my interview here and the advocacy video that I collaborated with the UN to produce here
Collecting data for a Coronavirus think tank
Food through the women in finance organisation
2. Testing
Molecular lab set up for state (processing 100 samples per day)
Design and construction of the first testing booths making sample collection safer for healthcare workers. Learn more about this here.
Design and operation of drive through centres
Developing massive testing capacity (6000 sample kits one of the largest of any private organisation in Nigeria)
Supported Ogun State to develop a walk in and drive through centre, this is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-vaJqxM2iE&t=1s
3. Treatment
Supported one of the first indigenous ventilator designs by NASENI
Helped design, build and raise funds for the almost 100 bed Landmark Eti Osa Isolation centre
Developed ICU/Isolation centre drug formulary
PPE supplies
Oxygen supplies
Santizer supplies
Ventilator donation
Drug supplies to isolation centres
I was also appointed to the Ekiti State Coronavirus task force to assist and serve in all three of these areas.
Our medical expertise as a group has allowed us to execute all of these projects in a very short space of time. But there are a few things that I think everyone can do, without any medical knowledge or expertise to resist.
What we can all do
- Food. If you are fortunate enough to be able to afford more food than you can consume, please share with people that are less fortunate. Nigeria has the highest number of people living in poverty in the world. India has more rich people and fewer poor people. Nigerians also have less in savings. We need to have each other’s backs.
As a doctor of medicine, completing my masters degree in finance and economics, this tension between saving lives and saving livelihoods weights heavily on my mind.
2. Wash hands. Break the chain of transmission with proper hand hygiene. Clean hands save lives. Learn how to wash your hands properly here.
3. Lockdown; don’t let the virus lock us down. Try to avoid all non-essential travel.
4. Stay positive
5. Communicate: Stay physically distant, but socially connected
6. Stay strong and stay safe.
Many Nigerians are in terrible situation. No money. No food. No hope. Our freedom of movement and earning is definitely constrained. But in the spirit of Victor Frankl (quoted earlier), I believe small acts of resistance can help us move the needle as we continue this fight.
I hope 1–6 above, can help us mount our own resistance movement. And come out stronger at the other end. I have only highlighted a few groups of people in this article. But in reality, the resistance isn’t just about doctors or nurses or billionaires or politicians or technocrats. We are all in this together. The virus only moves when we do.We all have our role to play.
We are all the resistance.
To learn more about me, click here
To learn more about the Flying Doctors Healthcare investment group, click here
And please stay safe.
