Chief Chekwas Okorie was the former National Chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP) and the party’s presidential candidate in the 2015 elections. He is today a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) following the recent de-registration of UPP by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) among other 73 political parties and the collapse of its structures to join the ruling APC. He speaks on COVID-19 and matters arising including the controversy surrounding President Mohammadu Buhari’s broadcast, particularly the shutdown of three states and its constitutionality.
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On the COVID-19 epidemic and preparation from the government for its containment and proactiveness, could you say you are satisfied?
Well when the thing became a global issue before even the World Health organisation branded it a pandemic, Nigeria had already stepped up its actions and I will give credit to the Lagos State government that immediately took up the challenge, it could have been worse than what we are experiencing now given the sensitive position of Lagos, its population and all that. And from that point, other states began to prepare, having had the experience of Ebola which Nigeria also fought to a standstill, it wasn’t something we can say we didn’t have any previous experience.
But what has happened actually is that nobody will argue the fact that our health care system is very poor, we have not provided adequate healthcare.
The facilities we have in Nigeria even for ordinary times is not anything to write home about. So no matter how you try to be proactive, there is a limit to which your being proactive can go.
It cannot go beyond your capacity, Nigeria has a very low capacity in terms of handling even epidemic not to talk of a pandemic. But so far, I think Nigeria or the government is responding very well in a manner they didn’t even respond to with regard to Ebola. Nigeria didn’t go this far in the case of Ebola.
Lessons have been learned or are being learned. My take of what is going on now is that: God will help us to control it and limit it without going out of hand but I will like to see subsequent Nigerian budget make adequate provisions for the health sector and look at the issue of water supply, there is now every directive worldwide especially and so in Nigeria that we should all wash our hands several times over. And it is even added for the effect that you wash your hand with running water and you ask yourself: which place do we have running water in this country? How many places in this vast country can you talk about running water? How many people even have water to wash their hands once in a day, not to talk of washing it all the time. So it is an area that should be of great concern. So this area of provision of basic utility like water ought to also be given more attention because it is part of health, etc. I said, a lot has been learned, we have now seen that we lack diagnostic laboratory and even the personnel to handle them because that is also an aspect of learning that has not actually been given attention. I mean Lab technology, all of these things are issues that are beginning to surface to draw our attention to our areas of neglect and inadequacy. I don’t think this is the time for blame, that is for the politicians, this is the time for concerted action to overcome.
Some critics have picked holes with President Buhari’s broadcast and the lockdown as unconstitutional and beyond his powers. What is your take on it?
Those are people who are playing politics and May God forgive them. Because this is an emergency, many states have already embarked on this restricted movement and nobody is quoting the constitution for them, now the President they said had not spoken has now spoken and only buttressed what the Lagos state and FCT minister, as well as Ogun state government, had already done. What the president simply did was to give Presidential backing to what the states have already done. The President has immense powers to intervene in a state of emergency. The National Assembly already had gone on vacation as a result of this coronavirus in order to reduce the spread among themselves and somebody is now telling us that the constitution requires that if such a statement must be made the President must have recourse to the National Assembly, such legalese to me is bereft of concern for the public good, and if anybody feels strongly about it, let the person go to court and challenge the President, let the person see whether Nigerians will not curse him and curse his generation.
