The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, on Thursday, frowned at the comment of Nigerians placing the blame for the country’s failure to have halted the spread of the pandemic on them.
In speech during the briefing of the PTF, Mustapha said everything was put in place to stop the pandemic from spreading as much as it has in the country. The only thing missing was the right attitude.
“Our biggest challenge has been the attitude of Nigeria; that is our biggest challenge,” he said, reflecting on the fact that confirmed cases in the country have exceeded 50,000 with the death toll just 15 cases shy of 1,000.
A visibly upset Mustapha suggested that rather than follow guidelines, Nigerians thought only about their rights, failing to realise that the rights came with “correspondent responsibilities”.
“We would have flattened the curve. We would have dampened this ravaging virus by now if we had just complied with the simple instructions,” he lamented.
Another area Mustapha took up issues with Nigerians is in testing.
Since the first case of the pandemic was confirmed in Nigeria on February 27 and as Nigeria struggled to contain the spread, there have been concerns about the country’s testing capacity.
Although the country has ramped up its testing capacity, the PTF Chairman is unsatisfied with the attitude of Nigerians towards getting tested.