Assessing COVID-19 Management in FCT

Olawale Ajimotokan examines the response by the FCT authority on the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in one of the country’s epicentre in the last 12 months

A year has elapsed since the index case of COVID-19 in the Federal Capital Territory was recorded in the middle of March 2020. Since the outbreak, the response by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to the pandemic, which is to stem the further spread of the virus could be categorised into healthcare measures, security approaches and humanitarian efforts.

As the first subnational to reach the recommended testing target by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) of one per cent of its population, there are indications that the FCT is on course on the total eradication of the pandemic in the country.

In spite of the status of the FCT as one of the epicenters of the disease in the country, the FCT, as of April 30, 2021, accounted for only 126 deaths of the nation’s total 2,063 fatalities.

The FCT, Lagos and Ogun States were the epicentre of the pandemic when the virus that causes severe respiratory infection began to traction across the country, prompting the federal government through the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to declare a local lockdown on the affected places to prevent it from spiraling out of control.

All schools, non-essential government services, religious institutions, markets, recreational centres, among others were shut for an initial period of two weeks.

Under the PTF watch, the FCTA having monitored the situation in China and the various measures adopted by other countries to tackle the pandemic, took deliberate pragmatic steps to contain and curtail the spread of the deadly virus.

One of the measures put in place by the FCTA led by the FCT Minister, Muhammed Musa Bello and the Minister of state, Dr Ramatu Aliyu was the setting up of the Ministerial Expert Advisory Task Team on COVID-19. The team comprised private sector stakeholders and headed by a former Minister of FCT, Dr Aliyu Modibbo.

Its scope was to harness private sector support and efforts towards defeating the deadly virus. Specifically, the team was mandated to rally well to do individuals and organisations to provide medical, financial and other material support that will alleviate the effect of the pandemic in the FCT.

The Karu General Hospital was renovated to cater for patients either coming for general testing and identification or to be quarantined. In addition, a 17-bed section that was equipped with all the needed facilities, including ventilators was provided for those who required intensive care.

The Asokoro General Hospital was also renovated while the private sector in conjunction with other stakeholders, like the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC), outfitted the Idu train facility Training Centre to accommodate an initial 300 beds before it was later expanded to 400 beds to be deployed as isolation and treatment centre.

The FCTA also worked very closely with the University Teaching Hospital at Gwagwalada to expand the capacity of the isolation and treatment centre at that location so that it would be able to accommodate more patients. The Zuba General Hospital was also set aside for possible conversion into isolation and treatment centre to be able to accommodate more patients, should the need arise.

Several other private sector organisations like the FATE Foundation, Polaris Bank, Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, Binani Group, among others were also rallied to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), monitoring machines, furniture, and air conditioners and power generators at the Idu facility, helping to boost FCT’s isolation and treatment centres as well as increase the number of bed spaces.

To effectively superintend the isolation and treatment centres, the FCTA in collaboration with the NCDC and other health organisations, trained and deployed hundreds of health workers, including doctors, nurses on the tactical and operational response to the virus.

Hundreds of ad-hoc staff were recruited and trained to man the call centres and provide support for the FCT’s testing and tracing effort. It also set aside special remuneration packages to motivate this category of workers to ensure that their morale remained high as first responders to the pandemic.

In a related manner, in a bid to enforce the lockdown, the Ministerial Expert Advisory Task Team rallied security organisations like the Nigerian Police Force, relevant formations of the military, Civil Defence Corps, the Road Safety, the Department of State Services, FCT Department of Road Transport Services as well as all the agencies involved in the provision of services within the FCT to enforce the presidential lockdown directive.

The FCTA also set up a Ministerial Team on COVID-19 Restriction Enforcement, headed by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bala Ciroma. This team, comprising all the security agencies, worked to enforce the lockdown directive at places of worship, hotels, event centres, markets, schools, among others while defaulters were arrested. It also ensured that social distancing was observed in the various markets for foodstuffs and medical services allowed to operate.

Apart from that, it also established a robust mechanism to cater for vulnerable people within the city as well as within the area councils and satellite towns by delivering palliatives to the people through the setting up the FCT Palliative Committee headed by the Minister of state, Dr Aliyu, and supported by the chairmen of the six area councils and other stakeholder groups, including traditional and religious authorities. NGOs were also made part and parcel of this community-wide initiative to ensure that vulnerable members of the society were catered for.

In the end, a reasonable number of the vulnerable people in the FCT were identified and given palliatives. With the support of the security personnel and private individuals who volunteered their vehicles, these palliatives were escorted and delivered to various locations across the FCT.

The target was to ensure that at least a hundred thousand households in each area council received palliatives. A total of 600,000 households were targeted in the entire six area councils.

An increase in awareness for testing led to a drastic drop in COVID-19 infections and deaths in the FCT by September 2020 with many of the tests done returning negative. The number of patients in the various isolation and treatment centres across the nation’s capital had also decreased massively compared to the number during the peak of the infections. This led to the relaxation of the lockdown measures as well as the reopening of markets, schools and places of worship and recreation centres.

The FCTA’s effective handling of the COVID-19 pandemic attracted commendations from various quarters. It was touted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Country Representative, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, who acknowledged the effectiveness of the actions of the FCTA notably in the fight against the virus.