In Praise of Boss Mustapha

“Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to our eyes” — Brooke Foss Westcott

I am writing about a man whose sense of patriotism and belief in the unity and progress of Nigeria is second to none. A man who believes in excellence and have demonstrated that the utopian society where everything is in perfect condition can be made real if given the necessary support.

This was the intellectual idea that influenced his decision to join the struggle to actualize the lofty dreams and ideals of our founders when in 1988 at the age 32, he became member of the Constituent Assembly; a think-tank group assembled by the then federal government to draft Nigeria’s constitution for its transition programme to the Third Republic.

Fellow Nigerians, I’m talking about the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on Covid-19, Barrister Boss Gidahyelda Mustapha as he turns 65 on September 4, 2021.

The essence of this article is to sincerely say ‘thank you’ to the man who put his life on the line to save the lives of millions from the deadliest plaque in human history after the ‘Bubonic Plaque’ better known as ‘The Black Death’ of the 14th Century.

Though the world has witnessed several plaques since then, but none has been as virulent as the Coronavirus. In a nation with over 200 million people, the Presidential Steering Committee started the fight against Covid-19 with just two molecular laboratories with daily testing capacity of 500.

Therefore, it takes courage, love of a country and unyielding faith in God to accept the responsibility of leading the fight against Coronavirus at that material time that Boss Mustapha was appointed Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19 now known as the Presidential Steering Committee. Though the battle is not yet over, but looking at how far we have come and the availability of vaccines as well as the ongoing administration of the jabs on Nigerians, one can say that the aim of achieving herd immunity which will lead to eventual defeat of Covid-19 or flattening the curve is achievable in the nearest future.

However, if there is anything the outbreak of Coronavirus and the successful prosecution of the war against it by the Boss Mustapha-led PSC has taught us, it is the fact that there is no adversity or challenge that Nigeria cannot overcome if we have the right leadership and team in place.

From just two molecular laboratories and 500 daily testing capacity with inadequate manpower and facilities, the PSC successfully waged the war on Covid-19 with minimal casualties, averted national calamity, upgraded and repositioned our healthcare system and infrastructure to optimal level. Oliver Wendell Homes must be right when he said that ‘A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.’

Though we are not yet there, but because of what the PSC has done and is still doing, Nigeria’s healthcare system is now better equipped to contain the outbreak of any disease in the future as we now have over 150 molecular laboratories with over 50,000 daily testing capacity as well as isolation and treatment centres in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory while the construction of Oxygen Production Plants in all the states and the FCT is ongoing. Nigeria has also joined the list of countries regarded as vaccine candidates because two vaccines produced by Nigerian scientists are awaiting clinical trials and the certification of World Health Organisation before it would be put in to use.

Against the initial fear on vaccine storage, the PSC rehabilitated existing cold chain facilities as well as the procurement and installation of Ultra-Cold Chain equipment across the federation.

Today, the PSC is administering Moderna Vaccines on Nigerians without encountering facility problem despite the fact that it requires refrigeration of about 2 to 8 degree Celsius. This is even as the WHO has ranked the country’s response to Covid-19 as the fourth most successful in the World.

In all these, I commend President Muhammadu Buhari for showing leadership and commitment to the fight against Covid-19 at the time the country needed him most.

Therefore, I’m using this opportunity to wish you a very warm and memorable birthday and many happy returns even as I also congratulate you for winning this year’s Leadership Newspaper ‘Annual Conference and Awards” as it’s ‘Public Service Person of the Year,’ while the Presidential Steering Committee which you lead emerged as the ‘Public Agency of the Year.’

Comrade Edwin Uhara, a UN-trained Negotiator and member, APC Presidential Campaign Council in 2019 Presidential Election, wrote from Abuja