Nigeria’s Multisectoral Approach Helped to Defeat COVID-19, Boss Mustapha Explains
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Immediate past Secretary to the Government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, has said Nigeria’s coordinated multisectoral approach through the Presidential Task Force, held the key to the successful war against the COVID-19pandemic.
He spoke at the Africa Economic Summit 2024, in Abuja, themed: “Evaluating Africa Pandemic Preparedness; Strengthening Healthcare Systems and Leveraging Technology.”
Addressing the question: “Has Africa learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and how do we prepare for the next one?” Mustapha said the summit was timely, coming after the recent World Health Assembly meeting.
According to him, the World Health Assembly, had also agreed on the path forward to finalise a new Pandemic Accord that aims to safeguard future generations from the threat of inevitable pandemics.
However, locally, he explained that, “Our experience in Nigeria was influenced by the coordinated multisectoral approach we adopted early on through the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, which I had the privilege of chairing.
“The lessons we learnt from running the PTF-COVID-19 is well documented in the medical literature but may not be widely known to the public. Allow me to summarise six key reasons why the PTF-COVID-19 was successful in fulfilling its mandate.”
Mustapha said the number one point was that, “We had a clear organisational structure with reporting responsibilities, elimination of bureaucratic barriers to enable rapid decision making and strong links to subnational entities through the Nigeria Governor’s Forum.”
The second factor, he said was that, “The PTF also had political support at the highest level and the convening powers to organise all stakeholders on to a single co-ordinating platform.
“We applied scientific evidence and global consensus in delivering an inclusive and transparent decision-making process and made effective use of predictive modelling to evaluate the potential impact of our decisions.
“We ensured transparency through regular public engagements, community activities and a very visible public health media campaign. For the first time, a government-run programme provided real-time public access to detailed budgetary allocations and spending throughout the pandemic period.
“We had secure and predictive financing through an enhanced budgetary pathway with a dedicated fiduciary audit process that was subject to regular scrutiny and operated as a funding body free from procurement encumbrances.
“The Coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID) set up by major private conglomerates in the country was a novel public-private partnership and a game changer that provided key support to the government’s pandemic initiatives.”
Thus, having successfully managed the most significant global pandemic of the century at the national level, he suggested collaboration at the continental level to transform the achievements into a more sustainable and better-prepared pandemic response for Africa.
