By Prof. Usman Yusuf

I raised alarm in an article I wrote which was published in the Daily Trust Newspaper (page 6) on April 22nd, 2020 on how COVID-19 was ravaging Kano city.

I opined that if urgent action was not taken by the Federal Government, the city could become the epicentre of the virus on the African continent. Recognizing the disastrous consequences of such a scenario, I offered recommendations that could help stem the slide.

Today, I raise my voice again, this time to join the growing chorus of people both within and outside the State who are horrified by Kano State Government’s (KNSG) cavalier response to this pandemic seeing it as a growing danger to the lives of people in Kano, its neighbours and also a threat to our National Security.

Nigeria as a nation needs to wake up to the ever-present danger of the cascading domino effect of COVID-19 infection in Kano spreading to the Northwest zone, the Northwest zone infects the rest of the North, the North infects the whole nation, Nigeria infects the West African sub-region, which then infects the rest of Africa, thereby destabilizing the whole continent.

A heart-breaking audio clip making rounds on social media of a grieving grandmother who had just lost her son-in-law to COVID-19 in Kano city sums up the feeling of helplessness of people in the city. She was venting her frustrations at NCDC officials in Kano who switched off their phones and those at their HQ. in Abuja that refused to return her calls when she desperately needed them.

She narrated how her son-in-law was initially taken to a Private Hospital then transferred to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) where he died shortly after arrival.

It is now common knowledge in Kano that NCDC officials in the city are not responding to people’s distress calls because they are short-staffed and have no working materials or Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).