It’s Such A Drag To Be On Your Own

By Olowogboyega Oyebade

Do you know that we have to appreciate the Governor of the State of Osun for being proactive to order the second lock-down of the State to stave off Covid-19 pandemic? Do you know that we have topraise God for not losing any of the patients quarantined?  Do you know that all our officers on the front-line are a rare asset for their rare courage and dedication to duty at this crucial time?  Do you know that all security operatives in the State are performing wonderfully well and should be commended? Do you know that it is such a drag to be on your own? You care for more?  Come along, please.

Are you aware that this is not the best of times to engage in puerile controversy? Do you know that the statement of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, decrying the poor state of Nigeria’s healthcare infrastructure is a reflection of the enormity of his assignment and not to pass the bucks? He said on Thursday, 16th April,2020: “I can tell you for sure, I never knew that our entire healthcare infrastructure was in the state in which it is until I was appointed to do this work.” Do you know that his Task Force is giving altruistic leadership to Nigerians at this critical time?  Do you know that we had never had it so good from any Task Force since the birth of Nigeria, seeing our leaders giving us direct briefings every day on issues concerning the safety of our lives, food palliatives, provision of infrastructure, immigration, excise issues, debt relief, provision of electricity, prerogative of mercy, welfare of Nigerian citizens in the diaspora to mention but a few?  Do you know that this is the height of accountability? Are we not impressed as each member of the Task Force steps forward to account to Nigerians in front of the Press everyday? Is this not the democracy we all demand for and now well-served? The poem of Blunt Letter cuts in:

“Each in another’s eyes finds light,

Each in another’s eyes finds compassion.

This is the moment of pity,

This is the moment of love”

Rather than allowing the donations to be spent in questionable ways, do you know that this Task Force has caused the Accountant General of the Federation to   publish the account details for collection through some commercial banks and also provided the modalities for its utilization? Are you aware that the SGF has taken time to charge the National Assembly to develop a legislative framework to prepare Nigeria for any future pandemic, develop a legislative framework for reforming and transforming Nigeria’s healthcare systems, strengthen the legislative framework for economic growth through domestic manufacturing, deepen the legislative oversight during this pandemic and beyond, pass legislations that will further ease the ability of the executive to cushion the impact of the economic decline and be part of community mobilization and enlightenment efforts?  What a vision?  What a service?

Are you aware that the Chief of Staff to President Buhari,  Abba Kyari, is dead and buried?  Do you know that the deceased had tested positive to the ravaging COVID-19, and had been receiving treatment but died on Friday, 17th April, 2020? Do you know that he travelled to Germany in early March with a delegation of other Nigerian officials for meetings with Siemens AG to discuss issues relating to the Nigerian power sector and on 24th March, 2020 it was reported that he had contracted the highly infectious disease? In retrospect, are you aware that the late Chief of Staff hailed from BornoState, held Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Warwick in Law and Sociology and was appointed by President Buhari as Chief of Staff in 2015 and reappointed  in 2019? Do you know that as we speak, the country has 493 confirmed cases and 17 deaths, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control? Do you know that Nigeria has 12 functional COVID-19 Testing Laboratories which are still grossly inadequate?  The last statement of late Aba Kyari to the world cuts in: ‘I hope to be back at my desk soon’.

​Do you know that this high profile death raises serious fear about the low rate of testing in Nigeria?  Do you know in a live-briefing by the Presidential Task Force on Friday, 17th April, 2020 the Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, while acknowledging the fact that the rate of testing is slow, said the agency has developed a new testing strategy that will be made available to the public soon? Do you know that at the rate of testing 3,000 samples per day as promised now by the DG of NCDC, for 200 million Nigerians, it will take us 66666.7 days which equals to 182.6 years only to test all Nigerians? Can you now see the need for us to abide with all possible measures to stave off community transmission of the virus? Do you know that Nigeria and Kenya have each conducted around 5,000 tests so far compared to   600,000 in South Korea, a country many see as having waged the strongest campaign against the virus? Do you know the bad news?  Are you aware that the World Health Organisation on 17th April, 2020 cast doubt on antibody tests for coronavirus as it declared that  those who have had the virus once already are not guaranteed immunity and they can still contract the virus again? Do you know that the WHO fears that Africa is strongly vulnerable and may suffer at least 300,000 COVID-19 deaths in the next six months?  The voice of the Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, cuts in:

“We aim to increase access to testing as new testing modalities also become available. The success of this strategy is dependent on our ability to leverage on the existing infrastructure for testing but also to rapidly include testing muds that are available through other disease programmes. First is to expand our existing laboratory networks as we have been doing and announcing regularly. Secondly is to use labs that have been previously used for HIV testing.  And yesterday we got our first consignment of reagent for those tests, that piece of equipment. We will be trying it out at the National reference Lab and then scaling up very rapidly. The third strategy is to use the point of testing generally called mass testing in their aesthetics. So we have had our challenges. Like with every other thing, it is not always the first person off the block that wins the race. So we have quietly put our heads down, worked with our partners, developed our strategies, made our plans and now we are ready to scale testing in Nigeria.”

​Do you listen to reggae music, particularly that of Jimmy Cliff? Do you  that he is one of only two living musicians to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in the Arts and Sciences? Do you know that he began writing songs while still at primary school and rose to be a legend in our world? Do you know that his track “Many Rivers To Cross” is instructive at this hour as we frantically look for vaccines for COVID-19? Do you know that Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the United States recently said that new vaccines typically take years to earn approval and a COVID-19 vaccine could take 12 to 18 months to develop, test and approve for public use? Do you know that the least time the world expects a coronavirus vaccine to be ready is by Summer of 2021?  Do you know that many stakeholders are mounting the current pressure on  scientists and regulatory agencies to take a few shortcuts to stave off the pandemic and make a COVID-19 vaccine ready sooner than later?  Do you know that more than 60 candidate vaccines are now in development, worldwide and several vaccines have entered early clinical trials in human volunteers, according to the World Health Organization?  Do you know that the time-line may be unrealistic as a potent one may still need to be re-validated before it is approved for use in our world? Why?  Come along with us.

Are you aware that there are challenges in vaccine development?  Do you know that designing a vaccine that grants immunity and causes minimal side effects is no simple task?  Can you believe that a coronavirus vaccine, in particular, poses its own unique challenges?  Do you know that scientists did create candidate vaccines for the coronaviruses SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, these did not exit clinical trials? The statement of Dr Fauci in an interview with the Journal known as ‘JAMA’  on 8th April, 2020 cuts in:

“One of the things you have to be careful of when you’re dealing with a coronavirus is the possibility of enhancement. Some vaccines cause a dangerous phenomenon known as antibody dependent enhancement (AED), which paradoxically leaves the body more vulnerable to severe illness after inoculation.”

Can you see why we have to follow religiously all the protocols earmarked to keep us save including lock-downs, before a redeeming vaccine comes on board? As we wait for Government-inspired testing, do you know that going to private hospitals for treatment carries high risks?  Do you know that the Federal Government threatened on Thursday 16th April, 2020 that it would close down private hospitals that engage in unauthorised treatment of COVID-19, warning that the country cannot afford avoidable morbidity?  Can you now see why Jimmy Cliff says: “Many Rivers to Cross”?  The lyric cuts in:    

Many rivers to cross

But I can’t seem to find my way over

Wandering I am lost

As I travel along the white cliffs of Dover

Many rivers to cross

And it’s only my will that keeps me alive

I’ve been licked, washed up for years

And I merely survive because of my pride

​Are you aware that many countries in Africa have been constructing new beds in hospitals anticipating a rise in coronavirus cases?  Do you know that the continent has passed the grim milestone of 10,000 reported cases of coronavirus, along with more than 500 deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC)?  Do you know that as the daily number of new infections appears to be falling in parts of the world, some fear the epicentre of the virus could move to the continent of Africa? Are you aware that despite efforts to lock down cities and countries, despite donations of protective equipment, testing kits and ventilators from China, one thing is clear: Africa has not yet flattened the curve and the room for manoeuvre is getting smaller by the day? Do you know that right now, nearly every African country has reported cases, and while most began with patients bringing the virus in through international travel, it is now spreading within communities at sub-regional levels?  Are you aware that the World Health Organisation has predicted that under the worst-case scenario, Africa could see about 1.2 billion infections, 10 million infections in 6 months  and about 3.3 million deaths?  Do you know that Bill Gates has warned that the coronavirus  could hit Africa worse than China and that 10 million people may die which equals to the total population of Gambia (2.4 million) Botswana (2.3 million) Gabon (2.2 million) Lesotho (2.1 million) and Djibpouti(988,000)? The voice of Dr Michel Yao, who runs the emergency response programme for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Africa, cuts in:

“What we are seeing is that this opportunity is no longer there or almost not there for some countries. The worry is also now that [countries] cannot adequately manage this phase, they are moving to [in country transmission]. But we are seeing there is some delay in addressing [this]… to mobilise more people, train more people, think about capacity… Cases can easily pick up, even triple, maybe multiply by seven to 10 from what we have right now”.

​Do you know that the devastating payloads of the pandemic is causing serious furore around the world?  Do you know that the United States, United Kingdom and France are not keeping quiet? Can you believe that the Wuhan Lab is at the centre of  COVID-19 controversy? Do you know that China has not helped matters as it is just acknowledging now that it did not disclosed all the materials particular to the actual number of deaths from the virus? Apart from this, do you know that the other countries were angry because China did not warn them early enough that the virus is airborne with the kinetics  of human to human transmission? Do you know that there are contending theories on the outbreak of the pandemic?  Do you know that US State Department cables show that embassy officials were worried about bio-security at a virus lab in Wuhan, China? Are you aware that the Washington Post newspaper reported information obtained from diplomatic cables that showed that, in 2018, US science diplomats were sent on repeated visits to a Chinese research facility and that officials sent two warnings to the US about inadequate safety at the lab in Wuhan and management weaknesses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and called for more help?  Do you know that prompted President Trump to say that the US government is looking into unverified reports that the virus escaped from a laboratory either from Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) or another laboratory in Wuhan?  

​Do you know that laboratories studying viruses and bacteria follow a system known as the BSLstandards, where BSL stands for Biosafety Level in relation to: risks related to containment, severity of infection, transmissibility, nature of the work conducted, origin of the microbe, agent in question,  and route of exposure? Are you aware that there are four levels, which depend on the types of biological agents being studied and the containment precautions needed to isolate them? They are:

Biosafety Level 1 – used by labs studying biological agents that pose no threat to humans.

Biosafety level 2—used by labs that work with agents associated with human diseases that pose a moderate health hazard.

Biosafety level 3- used by labs working with microbes that can cause lethal disease through inhalation.

Biosafety level 4 – used by lab dealing with the most dangerous pathogens for which there are few available vaccines or treatments.

Do you know that the BSL standards are applied internationally, but with some cosmetic variations?  Do you know that in Russia, the highest containment labs is labelled as 1 and the lowest containment labs as 4? Do you know the problem?  Do you know that while the World Health Organization (WHO) has published a manual on the different levels, the standards are not enforced by any treaties thus making some countries to use their laboratories to play war-games without any keeper at the post?  Are you aware that accidents do occur in these laboratories?  Have you forgotten that in 2014, missing vials of smallpox were found in a cardboard box in a research centre near Washington?  Do you remember that in 2015, the US military accidentally shipped live anthrax samples instead of dead spores to as many as nine labs across the country and a military base in South Korea? Do you know that there are more than 50 of such high-resolution laboratories around the world? Can you now see why one  online theory,  went viral in January, suggesting that the virus could have been engineered in a lab as a bio-weapon?  Do you know what a bio-weapon is?  Come along, please.  

​Are you aware that Biological warfare (BW)—also known as germ warfare—is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war and it is part of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)?  Do you know that biological weapons may be employed in various ways to gain a strategic or tactical advantage over the enemy, either by threats or by actual deployments? Do you know that the use of biological weapons is prohibited under customary international humanitarian law? Can you believe that the production, stockpiling, and use of biological weapons, was outlawed by the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and ratified 170 countries as of April 2013 to prevent large numbers of civilian casualties and cause severe disruption to economic and societal infrastructure as the world is now witnessing?

Comrades! Do you know that such a weapon could “escape” from the laboratory where it was developed, even if there was no intent to use it?  Do you know that researchers themselves c an be infected and they become active transmitters before realizing that they were infected? Do you know that it can find its way into the hands of terror cells?  Do you know that anthrax and glanders were used in World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939-1945)? Do you know that in Britain, the 1950s saw the weaponization of plague, brucellosis, tularemia and later equine encephalomyelitis and vaccinia viruses, but the programme was unilaterally cancelled in 1956?  Do you know that the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories weaponized anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, Q-fever and others during this time? Do you know that the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention was signed by the US, UK, USSR (Russia) and other nations, as a ban on development, production and stockpiling of microbes or their poisonous products except in amounts necessary for protective and peaceful research in 1972?  Do you know that as of September 2018, 182 countries have ratified the treaty; and none are proven—though nine are still suspected—to possess offensive BW programmes? Do you remember that prior to this pandemic, the United States and China were at daggers drawn over trade issues, and is seen as a furtherance to the war?

Are you aware that the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus originated last year, has raised its official Covid-19 death toll by 50%, adding 1,290 fatalities?  Do you know that great China with over 3000 years of civilization is now changing the narrative of the death toll in a statement released on Friday, 17th April, 2020 that the revised figures were the result of new data received from multiple sources, including records kept by funeral homes and prisons, deaths linked to the virus outside hospitals which had not been previously recorded?  Do you know that the  reason given to bring the death toll in Hubei province to 3,869 and Wuhan to  4,600 and confirmed cases to nearly 84,000 coronavirus infections cast aspersion on the international image of China?  Do you wonder why are there concerns over China’s figures? Do you know that Friday’s revised figures came amid growing international concern that deaths in China have been under-reported and speaking less than the truth about the origin of the virus? Are you aware that in December 2019, Chinese authorities launched an investigation into a mysterious viral pneumonia after cases began circulating in Wuhan?  Do you know that China reported the cases to the World Health Organization (WHO) on 31 December but  WHO experts were only allowed to visit China and investigate the outbreak on 10 February, 2020 by which time the country had more than 40,000 cases including the tourists in the region?. Do you know that around that time, a doctor who tried to warn his colleagues about an outbreak of a Sars-like virus was silenced by the authorities and . Dr Li Wenliang later died from Covid-19? Do you know that the inference has been that some Chinese officials might  have deliberately under-reported deaths and infections to give the impression that cities and towns in China were successfully managing the emergency while allowing tourists to be infected more, thus spreading the virus round the world? Do you know that the new death toll now declared by China indicts in no small measure the earlier statement of the  WHO DG, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus which hailed China for the “speed with which [it] detected the outbreak” and its “commitment to transparency”?

​Do you know that on 14 April 2020, United States President Trump announced that he would stop United States funding of the WHO while reviewing its role in what he described as “severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus”? Do you know that a week earlier, at a press briefing, Trump criticized the WHO for “missing the call” on the coronavirus pandemic and had threatened to withhold U.S. funding to the organization? Do you know that  on the same day, he also tweeted a complaint that China benefitted disproportionately from the WHO, saying that “the WHO really blew it”?  Do you know that the U.S. Congress allocated about $122 million to WHO for 2020, and Trump had previously proposed in the White House’s 2021 budget request to reduce WHO funding to $58 million? Do you know that the U.S. is the top contributor to the WHO followed by the theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation which is second? Do you know that the row came as the US recorded its highest toll from the virus in a single day, with more than 1,800 coronavirus deaths?

Do you know that Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak, has begun to return to normal life, raising fears among some US right-wingers that China’s economic recovery could steal a march while the US is in the midst of its own outbreak? Bill Gates voice cuts in:

“Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds. Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs WHO now more than ever.”

​Can you hear French President Emmanuel Macron, saying it was “naive” to suggest the country had dealt better with the crisis, adding things “happened that we don’t know about”? On Thursday 16th April, 2020, the voice of the  UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab cuts in:  “We’ll have to ask the hard questions about how [coronavirus] came about and how it couldn’t have been stopped earlier.” Do you know that  Trump has fuelled a media theory that the coronavirus pandemic began when the pathogen accidentally escaped a Chinese laboratory, teasing that “more and more we’re hearing the story”?  While banning fund from the United States to WHO, President Trump said: “It took them a long time to realise what was going on, but I have a feeling they knew exactly what was going on. Tragically, other nations put their trust in the WHOand they didn’t do any formal [travel] ban.”

​Are you aware that while observers of the pandemic are looking forward to see Africa as the next epicenter of the pandemic,  some countries in the continent want to use one stone of the pandemic to kill three birds? Do you know that one of the birds was the campaign launched by the Nigerian Minister of Finance pleading with China and G-20 to consider Nigeria for debt relief? Have you heard the news?  Do you know that China and G-20 countries have agreed to give debt relief to Nigeria and other poor countries poorest countries in the world which are classified as IDA countries by the World Bank at the ongoing April 2020 virtual Spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)? Are you aware that countries under the International Development Association (IDA) are those with per capita income below an established threshold of $1,175 as at 2020? Do you know that countries, such as Nigeria and Pakistan, are IDA-eligible based on per capita income levels and are also creditworthy for some IBRD borrowing? Do you know that a moratorium is the suspension of debt repayments while debt relief is the reorganization of debt in any shape or form so as to provide the indebted party with a measure of respite, either fully or partially?  Can you believe that the World Bank is committing about $160 billion over the next 15 months to help developing countries recover from the effect of the pandemic? Do you know that David Malpass, the World Bank President, said that beginning from May I, there would be debt relief? The voice of David Malpass cuts in:

“IDA countries will have bilateral debt relief beginning May 1. That way, they can concentrate their resources on fighting the pandemic and its economic and social consequences.  I take note that in the G-20 meetings, China is supporting the international agreement to allowing moratorium of debt repayments by IDA countries if they ask for forbearance. That’s very important because China is one of the biggest creditors and their participation in that effort is important and was very welcome… Soif the government saves money by not paying creditors, there is an expectation that they use it for health, education, economic rebuilding, jobs and concrete ways to help the people of their country,”

​Do you know that with all these efforts, the International Monetary Fund last  week said the global economy is expected to shrink by 3% this year, before growing by 5.8% next year — a rebound that its Chief Economist Gita Gopinath described as a “partial recovery.”?  Her voice cuts in: “So even by the end of 2021, we’re expecting level of economic activity to be below what we had projected before the virus.”

​Do you know that the third bird that African countries want to resolve during this pandemic is nuclear power?  Have you heard the news that  manyAfrican countries are in the grip of a nuclear fad, owing to the fact that countries with nuclear energy programmes are seen as rich and technologically advanced? Do you know that about a third of 30 countries considering nuclear power are in Africa and they include Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zambia and have already engaged with the IAEA to assess their willingness to embark on a nuclear programme?  Do you know that Nuclear programme is not new to Africa as it had been active since the 1950s when the Democratic Republic of Congo built Africa’s first nuclear reactor?  Do you know that more African countries are planning to develop atomic power for energy security?  Are you aware that there are 12 nuclear research reactors hosted in eight African countries and South Africa is the only African country with an operational nuclear power plant?  Do you know that the list of countries seeking nuclear energy in sub-Saharan countries include: Ghana, Niger, Uganda and others in North Africa include: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia? Why is it that they want nuclear energy? Do you know that development is conditioned by political stability, human security, education, and electricity and some of these countries see nuclear energy as critical to their industrial take-off?  Do you know that Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa lead the way on the continent to advance further in nuclear programmes?  Do you know that an integrated nuclear infrastructure review team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will soon complete their 2015 tours of Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria to identify problems and make recommendations as these countries advance the nuclear option?

​Do you know that the threats associated with nuclear programmes include: corruption, radiation events like the Fukushima disaster, high costs, lack of expertise and waste management?  Do you know that one of the first consideration to establish a nuclear programme  is gaining access to uranium?  Do you know that Africa contributes nearly 20% of world uranium production as 34 African countries have rich uranium deposits including South Africa, Malawi, Namibia and Niger? Do you know that there is Russian connection in South Africa’s nuclear expansion and after Putin’s visit to Cairo in February 2015, it was announced that Russia will build Egypt’s nuclear power plant in Dabaa?  Do you know that Russia’s state energy corporation Rosatom also signed a deal with Nigeria to build a nuclear plant that will be operational in 2025? Do you know that  China and Kenya signed a deal on the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the east African nation to be operational by 2025 and at the same time, China General Nuclear Power Holding Corp will begin mining for uranium at its Husab mine in February in western-central Namibia? Do you know that China and Russia’s interest is linked to the projection of strategic power and investment into Africa, but also to secure access to uranium reserves located in Africa?

​Are you aware that several African countries have announced their willingness to embark on nuclear programs and a few (Libya, Algeria, DRC, Morocco, Nigeria) have reactors that are used mainly for medical research?  Do you know that Algeria, which had initially displayed a nuclear weapons ambition, gave up the idea and turned to civil application?  Do you know that it would take usually around 10-15 years from the initial consideration of the nuclear option to the nuclear plant being operational?  Do you know that the consideration for it has three phases, namely: “Consideration”, “Preparatory works”, and “Activities to contract, license and construct”? Do you know that some of the African countries have already existing nuclear research facilities such as Algeria, DR of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, and S. Africa which is a good sign to start up? Do you know that South Africa is the only African country having an operating nuclear power plant in Koeberg which initially, started developing a secret military programme between 1982 and 1989 from which they built 6 atomic bombs before renouncing to the military program after the rise to power of  AfricanNational Congress? Do you know that South Africa has a population of 54.8 million from which only 84.2% got access to electricity. In other words, 2.2 million South Africans are still in the dark, 66% of which in rural areas while urban areas have a 93% access?  Do you know that the current installed capacity is 51.309 MW as 87% comes from thermal (mainly coal), 8.8% from renewables and 5% generated by nuclear? .

Do you know that Nigeria is the biggest economy in the African continent and the most populous with 200 million and is famous for oil and gas?  Do you know that the electricity generation is extremely insufficient with only 59% of the population having access to electricity while a staggering 64% of the rural Nigerian doesn’t have electricity?  Do you know that the government is having an ambitious target of providing universal access by 2030, to realize this objective a massive investment in the energy sector must be done?  Do you know that Nigeria is currently eyeing renewable and nuclear energy to achieve this goal? Do you know that Nigeria’s  current electricity generation capacity is about 8,300 MW, however, the peak the country ever reached is only 5,222 MW recorded in 18th December 2017? The voice of Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Works, Power, and Housing cuts in: “Nigeria energy consumption in 2018 is mainly composed of gas-fired power (85%) and hydropower (15%)”. This shows how dependent Nigeria is on fossil fuels which are very polluting and subject to sabotage of the pipelines.”

       Can you see the necessity of renewable and nuclear energy mix  to cope with economic development and provide a reliable basis for Nigeria?  Do you know that the intention of the government toward these energies have been stated already as Nigeria want to produce 30% of its renewable energy  by 2030? Do you know that the Federal Government has set a target of generating 4,800 MW from nuclear energy between 2025 and 2028 and necessary processes  to acquire nuclear technology have started as Nigeria has signed an agreement with ROSATOM(Russia) to build and operate a nuclear power plant as well as a Multipurpose Research Reactor Complex (MRRC) that would house a nuclear research reactor in Nigeria? Are you aware that the potential sites chosen by the government to host the NPPs are Itu in Cross River and Geregu in Benue with the agreement with ROSATOM  in form of Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model, with the majority of equity coming from ROSATOM? Do you know that the same ROSATOM  is building a $29 billion nuclear plant for Egypt and helping Uganda, the Republic of Congo and Rwanda to establish nuclear facilities? Do you know that Chinese state-owned nuclear firms have also taken the lead in the region, sealing deals with Kenya and  Sudan?  Do you know that an agreement has been signed by Imo State Government in Nigeria  and the United States’ Barnett Holding and Co. to evaluate potential sites in Owerri for the deployment of 5-20 MW modular reactors?  Do you know that the time has come to review the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, to which all African countries but South Sudan are parties? The voice of the Chairman/CEO of the Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), Simon PescoMallam, cuts in:

“The country has concrete plans on erecting its first nuclear plant by mid-2020’s but is still putting logistics in place to make this a reality.”

​As we collectively mourn the Chief of Staff to the President, Aba Kyari and all other people snatched away by Covid-19 and as we sympathise with his great family and friends, we urge all residents of the State of Osun to obey all the protocols essential to keep at bay the biting teeth of coronavirus pandemic. It is such a drag to be on your own.  The voice of Jimmy Cliff cuts in again:

“And this loneliness won’t leave me alone

It’s such a drag to be on your own

My woman left me and she didn’t say why

Well I guess, I have to try

Many rivers to cross

But just where to begin, I’m playing for time…

Olowogboyega is the Head of Service, State of Osun.