If you ask me i'd say the author of this article makes allot of sense in his write up and the government should hire him ASAP. The government needs to invest in these type of resources, people that see opportunities even in though times like these. I think you'd agree with me after reading this.

COVID-19 is the pandemic of this generation. Pandemics are often spontaneous, devastating and with landmark lessons. The fear of this pandemic of our time was devastatingly acute, and it has progressed into chronic calamities for a ramifying worldwide depression. Clearly, COVID-19 pandemic is exposing the weakness and not the strength of most nations. In fact it has demystified the presumed powers of countries.

In disease management, efficiency of responses to outbreaks hinges on early detection, prompt reporting and the integrated response system. COVID-19 pandemic downplayed efficiency and effectiveness of Medicare intervention elements in majority of the countries across the globe. Also, it has shown the ease of losing a war against nature.

Those of us in developing nations are amazed by the overwhelming effect of COVID-19 on the Medicare delivery system of the so called advanced nations. However, we cannot be less impressed by their dedication, rapid response, advances in medical equipment and the hospitalization standard. For now the saving grace for Africa is the favourable epidemiological dynamics of COVID-19 that has failed to aggressively challenge our population and health care delivery system.

The pandemic status of COVID-19 describes the spread of the disease because it is highly contagious and the whole world is exposed. Relatively, Nigeria and many other countries in Africa are evolving into the pandemic with very slow morbidity based on the strength of testing. Secondly, looking at the level of compliance of the various measures on containment, we shall be deceiving ourselves to believe that our measures are responsible for the low rate of the infection in the country.

COVID-19 is an opportunity for any country to review the ranges of growth and developmental challenges. In the case of responsive disease control strategy, it will be good to picture a case scenario where Nigeria had come down or hard hit with the pandemic just like what happened in Europe, and now in USA and Brazil. Without using this assumption to define our weaknesses, and sincerely begin to be regimentally frontal in providing solutions to resolve our failures, we shall go back to sleep the moment the West handover the vaccine to us in the foreseeable solution.

Definitely, vaccine trial and production against COVID-19 will be discovered by the West. South Africa is already a testing ground. Our country, Nigeria may willingly offer our people for vaccine trial, and also be on the queue lobbying for free allocations from donors. Some smart opportunists amongst us will then exploit available channels to make riches. Thereafter, we shall go back to our habitual procrastinating tendencies.

Under this our ways, the medical responses of our future will follow the vicious cycle of laxity. Unfortunately, we don’t know when and where the next pandemic will start from if we successfully escape COVID-19.

In looking into the future, the effect of COVID-19 is multifaceted. At the level of medical security, professional experts should develop the capacity to simulate pandemic disease like COVID-19 to understand the enormous challenges ahead. COVID-19 is a message that Nigeria should take a look at our current status and to proffer a focus based approach for ramifying responses for growth and development.

Beyond the sickness, opportunities of COVID-19 outbreaks have gone beyond medicine. It has shown that every household has the ingenuity to produce a facemask. COVID-19 is a disease that is of science and technology. It has brought in hardships and varying economic opportunities. Also, international politics and diplomacy have been very active.

The disease is about strength, focus and the desire to deliver. Therefore, COVID-19 is going to direct the future trend of several events beyond our comprehension on how the world will grow.

In Nigeria, the first line of question is medical preparedness. This is the crux of interventions on disease control. Firstly, our nation will need to deliberately develop an acceptable labour management model based on responsive accountability and team work to stabilize the health sector. This will cater for planning, funding, development and strengthening the requisite capacities for emerging challenges.

Advances and deployment of medical tools were competitively demonstrated in the management of COVID-19 by the western nations. Even the beddings are luxuriant and brilliantly displayed to stimulate healing. Now, what is the current state of production of medical equipment in Nigeria? This is a big question. The clear fact is that engineering sciences and technology have taken over medical precisions. It is making the work of health personnel to be more simplified.

Diagnostic judgment as a guide to treatments regiments is now efficient and improving confidence with advanced tooling. Nigerians travelling abroad for medical vacation or interventions are to have access to precision tools for diagnoses and treatments. Of course if we don’t have a particular tool for clinical application locally, how do we develop the requisite expertise? Therefore, this challenge of access to advanced machines and techniques are both affecting the quality of our personnel.

The failures of our national research institutes across board are glaring. They are supposed to drive production of capacities and tooling by innovations. If my fact is right, the law establishing various research institutes in Nigeria is very silent on profit making. Then, how has these laws enhanced the commercialisation of viable discoveries for economic development? What is the strategy to reach out to investors? The irony is that most research institutes in the country are locked up without commensurate inputs on our development. They are conservatively managed with visible effect of politicization of headship.

Some institutes who developed viable products deliberately do not want to release them for commercialization because they are not challenged. In some cases, the local research products are poor and outdated within current realities. Most government research based institutes have lost focus, infested with corruption and hiding under poor funding to justify failures. The ease at which China has domesticated their products across the world will undermine science and technological development of nations that are not serious because they have every product to challenge local markets.

Higher education is worse in focus on developing practical technology and formidable scientists with economic values. Their inputs are weak or inconsequential in the labour market. There is need to set a balance on the practical roles of the universities and the technical colleges for our development. Higher institutions should be responsive to the needs of time. If not, this country will continue to depend on imports for critical inputs.

In medicine, a doctor may not see the necessity of broad-based collaboration, interdisciplinary networking and information sharing that goes beyond the hospitals. We can never advance without linking all our medical findings to opportunities in creative technology to promote indigenous tooling.

Indians have silently taken over the drug business of the country with poor regard for local content. Local input in drug discovery will reduce pressure on our reserve. A focus on nutritional health and advances in herbal medications is the future of general wellbeing. A serious attention to verify and standardize herbal remedies will open up new and competitive opportunities for Nigeria. However, failure of the country to address the proliferation of uncensored herbal products may become a major complication to public health in the future as more people continue to embrace herbal remedies in the face of increasing cost of medical attention.

Coming to the current need to advance the control of infectious diseases like COVID-19, the strategy to utilize the emerging opportunities posed by this disease should not be wasted. Most research-like information on COVID-19 is exotic, because they are coming from the epicenter of the disease. Therefore, the critical line of action is how we can drive most of our responses based on local peculiarities. An encompassing epidemiological investigation has to be sustained locally. In this regard, it is our duty to accurately define various parameters relating to host, the nature of virus, and the factors of the environment that are modulating the slow morbidity and mortality in the country.

Various models can be developed to establish if actually our social distancing and the highly disorganized restrictions have effect. The objective is to scientifically define those factors that have limited the spread of the outbreak into aggressive pandemic. Our focus will then be on how to extract and seek to amplify such inhibitions for future defense against outbreak of highly contagious diseases.

Europe has pledged over €700 million for research into vaccine discovery and production. Nigeria has an opportunity to look inward and strive to equally research into vaccine development for COVID-19 if we don’t want any imported vaccine.

The British government has promised £100 million for vaccine development programme. Under this programme, the vaccine is targeted for their country first before secondary consideration. No country in the world will get vaccine breakthrough that will not focus on her citizens. So, those who are even objecting to vaccination against COVID-19 have poor understanding of the current challenge.

Any country like Nigeria with a population above 200 million should have a programme to domesticate vaccine trials and production against COVID-19. Beyond national health security and political intrigue of the disease, this is an opportunity to look inward and become participatory in the development of science and technology, rather than existing as empty consumers. Therefore, scientists in the country have to be challenged at this particular time for a breakthrough.

Unfortunately, the state of federal vaccine production laboratory at Yaba is poor or nonfunctional. However, collaboration is what is needed in this trial period.

On the contrary, the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom has been active in the production of animal vaccines for the West African subregion for decades. In Nigeria, NVRI has sustained vaccine production to address endemic diseases of domestic animals.

Currently, NVRI has technical and scientific capacities to produce and market nineteen different vaccines. In the list are rabies vaccines for dogs, clostridial infection vaccines, vaccine for pasteurellosis, anthrax spore vaccines and vaccines for brucellosis for in cattle
Fowl cholera and typhoid vaccines, various strains of Newcastle disease vaccines, infectious bursal disease vaccine, fowl pox vaccine for poultry and many others are produced in Nigeria.

This is to buttress the fact that abundant resources on vaccine production are available in Nigeria for protection against bacterial and viral diseases.
In the human health sector, the failure of vaccine production in Nigeria is as a result of subjecting the national supply chain to donor nations under various programmes funded and coordinated by World Health Organization (WHO). This is a developmental disaster. With this policy, the federal vaccine production laboratory at Yaba will continue to suffer. Therefore, the strategy of our national health security must have to address the problem of mortgaging critical inputs of our survival on handouts from other nations.

The vaccine production economy is huge to attract local investment. Therefore, we should reposition our local production capacity for donors to source from within. This is the time to stimulate private investment in local vaccine production. It is of strategic importance to national security. The issues of suspicion, acceptability and distrust against some vaccination programmes in the country will definitely stop if the vaccines are produced locally.

As for COVID-19, the demand is to pool the wealth of scientists of microbiology, medical and veterinary specialties to give us a vaccine in months. This particular requirement becomes important to national development in pandemic situation. We can use this particular target to determine our strength in future rapid response for self-reliance. No country will give out vaccines or critical inputs to other nations under generalized or overwhelming threats.

USA is known to stockpile vaccines against biological warfare and pathogenic influenza outbreaks with disregard to cost implication even if such vaccines are never used. Therefore, investment in vaccinal science and technology is not a waste. It is lack of purpose to rely on external supply for strategic inputs in pandemic situations or depends on donor programmes to vaccinate our children. In fact it is highly irresponsible that for ages, the survival of our kids depend on vaccines donated by NGOs and foreign countries under various WHO programmes.

Another vital requirement on vaccination is the viral nucleic acids, protein or strains used as antigen in vaccine production. It is important to ensure that the strain of the virus to be used for vaccine development is isolated from the country. The West has no business using the viral isolate from other countries for their needs except with vested interest. Therefore, our interest will ensure that isolated antigens are harvested locally, used and subjected to periodic titres on antibody production or strength of immunogenicity. Looking inward to apply local research findings for successes in this regard provoke accountable and developmental progress.

In advanced countries, beyond these preventive measures, their virologists are not sleeping. They are competing to deliver on vaccine for COVID-19. Nigeria is not that poor to wait for the West for every solution especially where we have some level of reliable capacity. Our health responses have suffered for long and COVID-19 presents an opportunity to rethink.

This country should utilize available resources to build capacities of national pride and emancipation for responsive future. We must therefore engage in purposeful risk by funding researches. In the area of vaccine production technology, the available scientific knowledge in the country is promising. They have to be made functional, accountable and exploited for growth.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has rubbished the “one world, one health” concept as a paper work. Although it is a realistic guide on public health control strategy, the concept has not been taken serious by any nation. The USA Centre for Disease Control in one of its publications estimated that six out of ten known infectious diseases of humans can spread to animals. Three out of every four emerging infectious diseases in humans are from animals. The very common and devastating ones includes Lassa fever, yellow fever, rabies, brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, pathogenic influenza and now COVID-19.

Ebola originated from animal before human to human transmission, just like the speculation on COVID-19. Mad cow disease, Bird flu and bubonic plaque are diseases of animal origin that have threatened public health with pandemic challenges. Therefore, control of emerging infectious disease in some cases has to address the root causes.

How we see, treat, and respond to animal diseases will determine the successes of preventive measures against some infectious diseases in the future. This is because the biology of life science revolves around cellular genetics. In essence research has converged plants, animals and human studies at the level of genetic references. This is the state of developmental breakthrough in genetic engineering for disease control and vaccine studies.
In the social media, we have seen various clips on the kind of animals eaten in china with sarcastic responses. I strongly positioned that we may not be better than china when it comes to eating assorted animals as delicacies. It only defines our tribes and religion. In this country, people are eating cat, dog, tortoises, toad, lizard, alligators, bat, wild pigs, all kinds of rats and rodents, monkey, antelopes, baboons, crocodile, snakes, grasshopper, all forms of game birds, any sea food, different kinds of maggots and insects. In fact, the list is endless. Weird animals in the likes of chameleon are used and consumed in various concoctions in traditionalists preparations.

On the major highways to some towns and cities, unlimited species of hunted wildlife are roasted on a stand and there are consumers to buy. Technically, we are close to china in behaviour. The difference is just in scope and presentations of the markets. Therefore, we are as exposed as china in the emerging challenge of interspecies transmission of infectious diseases. The continued outbreak of Lassa fever is a case study. In this regard, we have to be on the future alert for emerging infectious diseases.

Along the major highways into cities like Abuja, various exotic and ornamental animals are on sales for domestication. This is a potent danger that has been neglected. The demand to avoid complication of public health from these unusual animals will need a strong veterinary surveillance that is based on stringent regulation. A protocol on domesticating wildlife in homes should be developed and strengthened. Active disease surveillance in wildlife must profile infectious diseases and monitor their epidemiological dynamics. This will further provide the opportunity to coordinate the fight against endangered species, smuggling of wildlife and animal welfare issues.

Directing mitigation against COVID-19 should be used for a holistic action to address the role of animal diseases in the public health of the country. Without exception, all the abattoirs in this country are serious menace to public health and environmental hygiene. Those directly associated with cattle have very high risk of brucellosis. This sickness can becloud the treatment of fever-like diseases. In fact some studies have indicated very high percentage of antibody detection against brucellosis in those associated with livestock businesses in the country.

The exposure of Nigerian to the consumption of bovine tuberculosis infected meat is one of the most terrible challenges in the current failure of national veterinary control system.

Nigerians are endlessly exposed to the consumption of tuberculous lesion in meat due to failure in veterinary inspections across the country. This is because livestock development policy has failed to address investment securities.

The national health system does need to look at active surveillance for update on bacterial isolates causing tuberculosis in nomadic population to determine the relationship between local consumption of milk and the disease. The focus is to engage an encompassing epidemiological study of this emerging disease to guide mitigation. Nigerians who feeds on pork are seriously exposed to a terrible liver disease called hydatidosis. All these are current reality of national veterinary public health weaknesses on inspections. Therefore, this is the time to define pandemic strategy with clear policy reference to all possibilities for future control models that goes beyond COVID-19 for our health security.

The reality is that pathogens, environment and the hosts are going through various transition and silent evolution due to stresses. All animals from cat, dog, sheep, goat, cattle, rats and other kinds of wildlife have different infections caused by various strains of corona viruses. Some are carrier or latent infections while others are clinical in nature. The danger to human population is always the interspecies crossover of a virus or bacteria. We need to determine the status of so many infectious diseases in our animal population, correlate such findings and making statement to guide our conducts and behavious for public health safety.

COVID-19 brought in another opportunity in expanding investment space. The shortages of inputs to address biosafety brought out the ingenuity in us. All over the country, our kids are on the roads harvesting money from locally made facemask. I see most of the various styles on display as unpleasant, unhygienic and prone to oral infections with hidden possibility of allergy over a prolonged usage. But, there is a positive message. Suddenly, various hand sanitizers are in the markets. Therefore, the local response within our limit is impressive. Hence, this effort tells the story of a focus on local content.

The lesson from this pandemic must address the importance of accelerating our needs through local content addition or researching to discover, and realistically invest in production. Latex examination glove is a product of rubber. No company in Nigeria produces it, yet we have rubber plantation in this country. The entire components of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are byproduct of petrochemicals or polymer technology. This is a country with abundant petroleum deposit. Some disinfectants and sanitizers are products of organic chemistry. Most medical equipment is cased with molded plastic-based product from petroleum derivatives. The challenge is the technological know-how.

How do we start defining engineering technology into our future? The efficiency of modern precision machines is on the sensitivity and specificity of programming language, electrical sensors and use of radiation science.

How are the local engineers going to be involved in medicine to interpret processes into technology? This disconnection has to be resolved in this country. The opportunities are endless for growth with aggressive and functional mobilization. Therefore, our medical personnel should start thinking and behaving like engineers. This will bring out the innovation in them.
On a faster lane, most machines and tools for whatever purpose are already available in the international market.

What we need is to copy and adapt in some cases. The current Chinese industrial revolution is sustained on copying. Africans are now going to china to import readymade Senegalese embroideries, a product of our traditional arts and fashion. Practically it was copied from here and delivered in china. Iran is practically surviving on copying technology. Then, is it so hard for Nigeria to aggressively copy technology? Our problem is due to Lack of focus, mental laziness of our scientists and opportunistic industrialists who survive on importation and government patronage. Hence, our growth and development is trapped by purposeless direction.

The whole industrial revolution of these so called advanced countries is based on stealing and copying product information from each other. However, it is only possible when the government has a direction. In fact, the Office of National Security is supposed to have a unit on sourcing and copy sensitive information for technological inputs in the economy. In foreign relations, it tells you why countries post different experts to other countries beyond diplomacy. They spy around nations, and a times help you to better their system. This is allowed but when it backfires, they call it espionage.

Nigeria cannot survive on importation at this current magnitude. Taking a look at the shelves of mega stores around the country is very disheartening on the level of importation. It becomes risky in situations of wars and pandemic like COVID-19. This country would have seen surprises if the epicenter of the disease is also here.

The importance and economy of the medical industry and process engineering is huge. The required science and technology are within reach. What is needed is dedication and focus. Therefore, the new focus on strategic intervention policy must look at five and ten year action plan. Such plan must be indigenous with positive and sensitive resource mobilization through reconnaissance activities for technology transfer.

This COVID-19 opportunity must not elude Nigeria for developmental strides. The whole world economy is under recession. This will last for two or more years. The heavily industrialized economies are already counting losses.

Unemployment in USA at a point was around 40 million and still counting. Europe is not better. Companies and factories are going to sack highly classified workers. They have already started in thousands. By now, we are supposed to have reviewed our technological priorities in relation to available raw materials for strategic development.

All these highly classified workers losing their jobs in very sensitive needs across the world are available for hire to advance our technology. Please, we don’t have to wait. The system should go scout for them to access information for the technology of our nation. Therefore, strategic resources have to be mobilized through various instruments to reach out.

As the government leads, the private sector has to come in. The financial institution is a major stakeholder who knows the financial strength of various entities. These institutions have to market and support our industrial revolution for job creation and growth. A new banking order has to evolve to accommodate these needs. The evolving dynamics for the future economy is beyond COVID-19. The strategy is to review our existing potentials, draw out pin point critical needs to build viable industry for the economy, just like the ongoing interventions in food production.

In agriculture, this government has lost so much on anchored borrower scheme through production subsidy. But the success story is unfolding. Whatever the country will spend on the opportunities provided by COVID-19 for aggressive incursion into accelerated technological development is never a waste. Stealing technology is a business. Product imitation or copying is condoned.

The future of COVID-19-like challenges go beyond the lousy palliatives, poorly responsive lock down and making fast purchases, and procurement in the offices. The world economic order is reshaping. Highly classified and well-priced human resources will be available for transfer of knowledge. Nigeria has the opportunity now to get whatever human resources we need for growth and development. The opportunity will last for a while before those with advantages bounce back to lock up again. We have to be practical and functionally ambitious this time around. This opportunity is a rare occurrence in world history. We need to make the best use of it.

I hope we understand. We can then go for a relative lockdown of our borders in the next ten years. The result will be amazing because we have the population and resources to drive these. What I am not sure is the focus and determination.
As I close this story, the thought of corruption just seize my body. I felt cold and defeated. But we should never give up.

Dr. Ademoh Idris, Division of Veterinary Epidemiology, Department of Veterinary Services, Agriculture & Rural Development secretariat, FCTA, Abuja .

https://leadership.ng/2020/06/28/covid-19-on-disease-control-development-and-growth-of-nigeria/