Why COVID-19 is astronomically rising in Nigeria – Shehu Sani

Shehu Sani, a former lawmaker who represented Kaduna Central at the Senate, has opined what is responsible for the rise of Coronavirus disease cases in most states.

Mr Sani in a tweet on Tuesday said the funds given to Lagos State to fight the deadly virus is responsible for the spike in number of confirmed cases across the states.

President Muhammadu Buhari had last month approved the sum of N10billion to Lagos to enable the state, which has the highest number of confirmed cases, battle the virus.

Mr Buhari also dispatched N5billion to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to assist the government agency in coordinating the fight against COVID-19.

A day after the disbursement, some Nigerians, majority from the Northern region, asked the Federal Government to also assist other states that have lesser number of cases with intervention funds.

Northern Governors Forum also made similar demands after their meeting to review the economic effects of the pandemic disease in the region.

Days after the demand, Kano State which had no case as of the time it was made began recording increase in number of confirmed cases, rising to third most affected state after Lagos and Abuja, with approximately 80 cases in less than two weeks.

Thereafter, reports of massive death in the state began filtering in and the demand for an intervention funds from the federal government to the state just as it did to Lagos resurfaced, this time around the call came from federal lawmakers in the state.

Presently, 33 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), out of 36 states, have been affected with 1337 cases out of which 255 patients have recovered while 40 deaths have been recorded nationwide.

For the former lawmaker, the issue has been politicized and the rising number of cases will decrease the moment the federal government also dispatches intervention funds to affected states.

“Ten Billion given to Lagos contributes to the astronomical rise of #COVID__19 in most states,” Sani said.

“Giving it to others will automatically flatten the curve,” he added.