COVID-19: PTF commends Buhari’s leadership over virus

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has commended President Muhammadu Buhari over his leadership and guidance for the PTF in its bid to contain the Coronavirus.

Mr Boss Mustapha, the Chairman of PTF on COVID-19 and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, made the commendation at the daily press briefing on Thursday in Abuja

Mustapha said that the president has consistently supported and encouraged the PTF.

He said that the support received had been a huge boost to the determination of members for success.

Similarly, Mustapha acknowledged the collaboration with other committees set up to address the impact of the COVID-19 and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum

He stated that the PTF had consistently pursued a national response that was under-pinned by science, data and global experiences that placed a high premium on our local peculiarities.

According to him, the importance of such approach was further underscored by Buhari’s call during the June 17 Extra-ordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity Against the COVID-19.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that at the conference, Buhari called for knowledge sharing as a fundamental aspect of dealing with the pandemic globally.

Mustapha said that like the rest of the world, the country’s national response continued to face challenges, especially as there was no known cure for the virus presently.

“These include inadequate infrastructure, manpower shortage, global shortage of essential items, strain on the economy which has compelled the need to balance between lives and livelihoods,” he said.

The PTF chairman noted that, so far, the greatest challenges were human resistance to change, stigma, mental health, skepticism and culture.

Other factors include religious belief and rising incidents of domestic violence.

He stated that COVID-19 had changed the people’s ways of life, adding that people might never go back to what they used to know.

It was also reported that Wednesday (June 17) made it exactly three months since the PTF on COVID-10 was inaugurated.

It was assigned the task of putting in place sustainable measures for the control of the spread of the virus and strengthening the health care systems to withstand the deadly virus and prepare for the future.

The PTF was given a time line of six months for its assignment, namely to strengthen the national response strategy, particularly in the areas of testing, containment and management of COVID-19.

The PTF was also mandated to strengthen collaboration with all tiers of Government, Private Sector, Faith-Based Organisations, Civil Societies, Donors and Partners.