THE Federal Government on Monday announced plans to employ 774,000 Nigerians from the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.
One thousand persons would be employed from each of the 774 Local Government Areas under the scheme described as Federal Government’s special public works programme.
Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning disclosed this during a briefing held in Abuja on fiscal measures among other interventions the current administration intends to deploy to reduce the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the minister, about N60 billion was already set aside from the COVID-19 crisis intervention fund for the project, basically for allowances and operational cost.
She noted that the programme had earlier commenced in eight states across the federation and being implemented by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), as a pilot special public works programme after presidential approval by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ahmed added that the president had now approved it’s extention to the 36 states of the federation and the FCT from October to December 2020.
“The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning are also evaluating how best to extend the Special Public Works Programme, to provide modest stipends for itinerant workers to undertake Roads Rehabilitation and Social Housing Construction,” the Minister said.
“And also Urban and Rural Sanitation, Health Extension and other critical services. This intervention will be undertaken in conjunction with the key federal ministries responsible for Agriculture, Environment, Health and Infrastructure, as well as the states, to financially empower individuals who lose their jobs due to the economic crisis.”
“Mr President has approved the establishment of a-N500 billion COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund. The establishment of the Fund will involve drawing much-needed cash resources from various Special Funds and Accounts, in consultation with and with the approval of the National Assembly.
“The N500 billion is proposed to be utilized to upgrade healthcare facilities as earlier identified by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and approved by Mr President.
“This will help to finance the Federal Government’s Interventions to support states in improving healthcare facilities, finance the creation of a Special Public Works programme and Fund any additional interventions that may be approved by Mr President,” she added.
MUHAMMAD Bello, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja on Monday directed that markets in the territory will now only operate three times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 7.000 am to 2:00pm.
A statement issued by Anthony Ogunleye, the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister explained that this was part of measures to limit the spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in the FCT.
He stated that Bello issued this directive in Abuja on Monday, April 6 during a meeting with FCT Market Managers and the top hierarchy of the FCT Police Command, led by the FCT Police Commissioner, Bala Ciroma.
Ogunleye disclosed that Bello who was represented at the meeting by the Director of Security Services Department, Adamu Gwary, noted that that only retailers would be allowed to operate within the markets as wholesale services would not be permitted.
The Minister, according to him, however directed market managers and the FCT Police Command to ensure compliance with the directive by monitoring all entry and exit points of the various markets as well as activities of the traders.
He also advised FCT residents to patronize markets within their neighbourhoods rather than going to the major markets in the city centre, in order to limit the spread of the virus between communities in the FCT.
In his remarks, Bala Ciroma, the FCT Police Commissioner, assured that the FCT Police Command would enforce the directive, even as he advised residents against flouting this regulation.
THE National Health Commission of China said on Monday that 78 new asymptomatic cases had been identified as of the end of Sunday, compared with 47 the day before.
According to the Reuters, Hubei Province, the original epicentre, accounted for almost half the new asymptomatic cases.
It reported that 705 people with asymptomatic cases were under medical observation around mainland China.
The surge in asymptomatic cases, which China only began, reporting last week, poses a worry as Hubei’s capital, Wuhan prepares to allow people to leave the city on April 8 for the first time since it was locked down in late January.
Wuhan officials revoked the “epidemic-free” status of 45 residential compounds due to the emergence of asymptomatic cases and other unspecified reasons, according to a report on Monday by the official Xinhua news agency.
“Epidemic-free” status allows people living in Wuhan compounds to leave their homes for two hours at a time.
China has now reported a total of 81,708 cases, with 3,331 deaths. One new locally transmitted infection was reported in the latest data, in the Southern Province of Guangdong, down from five a day earlier in the same province.
China has closed its borders to foreigners as the virus spreads globally, though most imported cases have involved Chinese nationals returning from overseas.
The country began testing all international arrivals for the coronavirus from April 1, customs official, Song Yueqian said.
THE United States(US) Mission informed it citizens just before evacuating about 385 of them from Nigeria the country was facing a shortage of supplies including toilet paper, canned and frozen foods.
The US Mission also told citizens willing to return home that schools were closed as up to 385 of them were evacuated on Monday, through the Murtala Muhammadu International Airport, Lagos amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a notice published on the Nigerian US Embassy website, the government told its citizens they would cater financially for themselves including bearing the cost of the flight back to the country as well as the cost of reaching their final destination.
In the notice, citizens on the verge of return to the US were informed that the hospitals in the country were overwhelmed and those seeking to get back in the country would be liable for their health bills where their insurance lapses.
It was also highlighted in the notice that US citizens exiting Nigeria might not get the chance to return due to the travel ban and restriction placed on commercial international flights.
It advised that travelers brace up for the worst as they exit Nigeria in this COVID-19 period.
Currently, the US has recorded over 273,000 cases of COVID-19 and over 7,000 deaths as a result of the deadly virus, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In Nigeria, 232 cases of Coronavirus and five deaths have been recorded according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
NOLLYWOOD actress, Funke Akindele and her husband, Abdulrasheed Bello, popularly known as JJC Skillz, have been sentenced to 14 days of community service for violating the lock down directive issued by the Lagos State Government to contain the spread of Covid-19.
The couple were also fined of N100,000 each after pleading guilty at the start of proceedings at a Lagos Island Magistrate Court on Monday.
They were arrested and charged to court after a video surfaced on the social media showing Akindele hosting a house party during the weekend in clear violation of the social distancing guideline against Coronavirus.
According to reports, the couple would also go into isolation after the community service which entails educating some residents on the need for social distancing.
Akindele and her husband, came under fire for disregarding the law which was passed in the Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday, March 26.
The Bill which was passed into law empowers the state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to issue and enforce a lock down to curb the spread of Coronavirus in the state.
Titled ‘A Law to Combat and Stop the Spread of Coronavirus Pandemic in Lagos State and for Connected Purposes’, the Bill has 25 sections, one of which stipulates that anyone caught flouting the Coronavirus lock down directive will be jailed for a month or fined N100,000.
Besides the prosecution, the actress has also suffered a hit on her brand.
Shortly after she was arrested for the offence, the Jenifa Diary creator, an advert for Dettol where she was preaching social distancing and improved personal hygiene, was pulled down from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)’s website, where it had previously been published.
In addition, NCDC distanced itself from the brouhaha when it clarified that it has not employed an ambassador to spread messages on preventive measures to be taken against Covid-19.
Also, Dettol, the brand directly linked to Akindele, stated that it did not condone any breach of directives issued to ensure safety of citizens against the spread of the deadly virus.
At the moment, Lagos is the epicentre of the deadly virus in Nigeria, with a record of 120 confirmed cases according NCDC.
THE Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has said that there is no link between fifth-generation (5G) technology and coronavirus, as recent rumour mill across social media has led many to believe.
In a press release sighted by The ICIR and signed by the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Henry Nkemadu, the commission debunked some of the misinformation that has linked 5G with coronavirus and implied that the technology is being created to exterminate a large percentage of the world’s population, including Nigerians.
According to the commission, this idea is far from the truth.
The statement noted that 5G is a huge advancement from the 4G network currently used in the country and the mobile technology provides the platform for new and emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data, all of which will improve the quality of work and living for humans.
It was further explained that 5G is not available in Nigeria at the moment. The commission also revealed that there is no deployment for the mobile technology in the country but a trial test was approved and carried out for three months back in November 2019.
“The trial among others was to study and observe any health or security challenges the 5G network might present. Relevant stakeholders including members of the security agencies were invited to participate during the trial,” the statement pointed out.
The commission also discredited the news that 5G emits a copious amount of radiation that can ‘dry up blood’ and ‘kill everyone in the space of seconds’ as claimed in some messages shared on social media.
According to NCC, 5G is not different from 2G, 3G or even 4G as they all belong in the same class of Non-ionizing Radiation.
It buttressed that Nigerians shouldn’t worry themselves about 5G technology as “safety and human health are top priority in the design and deployment of 5G.”
In highlighting the benefits of the technology, NCC submitted that 5G is set to transform the world by connecting everyone with everything.
The commission says it will create millions of jobs, add billions of dollars to the economy (GDP), solve problems solve insecurity problems as well as improve governance and efficiency in the society.
THE Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Sunday pulled down from its website, Funke Akindele’s Dettol advert in which she preached social distancing and improved personal hygiene, as public health advisory to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country.
This is coming shortly after Akindele, and her husband, Abdulrasheed Bello, popularly known as JJC Skillz, were seen on tape hosting scores of people in their home as they celebrated a birthday party.
It was gathered that singer, Naira Marley, actress, Eniola Badmus and a host of others were present at the house party which outrightly flouts the coronavirus lockdown directive issued by Governor of Lagos State, Babjide Sanwo-Olu.
The directive prescribes a one month jail term or a fine of N100,000 for offenders who disregard the lockdown order.
As such, Funke Akindele has since been arrested and a man hunt for her husband and others at the house party is being carried out by the Lagos State Taskforce, responsibile for enforcing the lockdown.
State Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, said the actress had been taken to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba.
The NCDC has also issued a release on its official Twitter page, clarifying that they haven’t engaged any ambassador as part of measures taken to combat COVID-19 and urged Nigerians to maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
On its part, Dettol, the antiseptic brand directly associated with Akindele and partnered with NCDC put out a statement on Twitter saying that it doesn’t condone any breach of the guidelines on Covid-19 and spelled out that the actress flouted the law in her personal capacity.
However, it is unclear whether the brand has withdrawn its ambassadorial duties from her
Akindele may spend a month in jail or pay a fine of N100,000, if found guilty.
THE Nigeria Medical Association has slammed the Federal Government over plans to invite Chinese Medical practitioners to battle COVID-19 in the country, saying there is a large pool of unemployed medical personnel in Nigeria.
In a press statement signed by the President of NMA, Francis Faduyile, who said ‘the association is aware of a large pool of General Medical and Specialist Practitioners who are either unemployed or underemployed that can be engaged instead of bringing
foreigners who aside from national security concerns may not be conversant with our culture.”
Faduyile added that the government should rather channel its attention to the unavailability of enough COVID-19 test centres and protective kits in the country.
NMA noted that whatever experience the Chinese doctors might have to offer Nigeria could be explained digitally, also adding that the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control NCDC, Chikwe Ihelkweazu had just recently returned from China.
The association noted that the FG’s intention is an abuse on the extant laws that guides medical profession in Nigeria.
Faduyile said the invitation is also an embarrassment on Nigeria medical practitioners who have been working ‘under deplorable condition’ to rid the country of the health crisis.
“In rejecting the invitation of the Chinese doctors, the NMA would instead urge the Federal Government to review and approve better welfare incentives to the frontline medical personnel, the provision of adequate personal protective equipment, opening and properly equipping more isolation centres and health facilities across the country is an excellent first step,” the statement further read.
“AS we walk through the prison yard, a voice keeps coming from a corner I later was told is meant for prisoners on death row,” says Toun (not real name), who recently visited a relative, an inmate of the maximum prison, Maiduguri, Borno State.
When she visited, there was somebody in the death row section who was shouting, “Please help me. They want to kill me. They have not given me my drugs for two months. Please help me,” she recalls.
A prison official told her that that was Charles Okah, the younger brother of Henry Okah. The warden said he is always shouting like that when he sees people around.
Okah was convicted of masterminding the 2010 Independence Day anniversary in Abuja.
He reportedly claims he is dying slowly in prison due to lack of access to medical treatment.
He says he has been living with a single kidney in the last 37 years, and his condition is deteriorating in prison.
Okah wants the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Correctional Service, Ja’afaru Ahmed, to either transfer him to Abuja or Lagos for better care.
Inmates’ lives in danger
Except the Federal Government takes a drastic decision to decongest correctional centres and police cells across the country, lives of tens of thousands of inmates are at risk as the Covid-19 pandemic tightens its grip on the country, The ICIR can report.
Toun expresses fear that a single case of Covid-19 in any correctional facility across the country puts the life of the inmate in danger.
“The situation in the prison is very bad and I can just imagine if just one single person contracts the Coronavirus disease, it would be devastating,” she says.
There are currently more than 74, 123 inmates in correctional centres, in the country, over 70 percent of them are awaiting trial, according to World Prison Brief.
The alarming figures highlight key flaws in Nigeria’s criminal justice system with proceedings often going on for years without conclusion, wrote Yomi Kazeem, in an article titled “Up to Three-quarters of Nigeria’s Prison Population is Serving Time Without Being Sentenced.”
While lawyers often cite a large number of cases being tried as a reason for long drawn-out trials, the charged inmates on the other side of the divide often spend years waiting to get convicted or win back their freedom, he added.
As of 2014, Nigeria had 240 prisons. Of these, 155 are prisons for convicts and 83 are satellite facilities.
Speaking on what she saw at the Maiduguri Maximum Correctional Centre, Toun paints a sorry picture of the facility and the horrible condition of living of the inmates.
“There were some prisoners outside the cell but Okah was inside the building and was shouting and making a lot of noise,” Toun narrates, with worries on her face.
Prison officials informed her that there are over 3,000 prisoners in the general wing of the prison. Then, there are nearly 20 women in the women’s wing, and over 50 in the section for death row prisoners.
Nigeria recorded its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus on February 25 when an Italian came into the country from Milan, for a brief business visit.
Since then, the country has recorded 214 confirmed cases with 25 patients discharged and four deaths recorded so far.
Calls for prisons’ decongestion amid Covid-19
A filed picture of Headquarters of the Nigeria Correctional Services
There have been mounting calls for the Federal Government to give approval to decongest the correctional facilities that are already overpopulated and in bad state.
Nigerians, including civil society organisations, have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately direct the Ministry of Interior to decongest the prisons.
Okey Nwangbuna, Coordinator of Rule of Law, Advocacy and Accountability Centre, RULAAC, cited the recent riot in Kaduna Correctional Centre, in which some inmates were allegedly killed and others injured, as a wake up call for the government to act fast.
“The recent riot in Kaduna Correctional Centre calls for concern which underscores the urgency for the government to act fast,” Nwangbuna told The ICIR in an interview.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that prisoners rioted because of the congestion in the prison and the fears that they may be exposed to the covid-19 and we understand that that riot was quelled with brutal force leading to injuries and deaths of some inmates. We think this highlights the need for the government to take this seriously.”
According to him, the inmates should not be exposed to the virus especially when the government is enforcing social distancing and is not taking measures to enforce the same in police cells and prisons.
Nwangbuna said social distancing should be observed in police cells and prisons where there is already overcrowding which makes inmates vulnerable to contracting the virus. .
While singling out the police as the major supplier of inmates into the facilities, he commended the Inspector General of Police, Muhammad Adamu, for his directive to Zonal Commands of Police against frivolous arrests in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“That for us, is a welcome development and means to ensure that social distancing is observed in police cells and correctional centres,” he said.
“When police officers go out to arrest people at random, demand bribe and those who cannot pay bribe are charged on frivolous offences and they end up in prisons. They are either remanded in prison or granted bail and they are not able to fulfil bail conditions and they remain in prison.”
He insisted that there must be a proper monitoring of the IGP’s directive, as according to him, “ arrests are still being carried out.”
“Our concern is that there is a need to monitor this to ensure that police officers are complying because reports we are getting is that people are still cramped in police cells which means arrests are still being carried out.”
To give weight to this advocacy, the Rule of Law, Advocacy and Accountability Centre, along with 50 CSOs spread across Nigeria, also issued a statement, addressing this particular subject matter —the decongest of police cells and correctional centres.
The CSOs warned that the Kaduna near prison-break could have a boomerang effect on other correctional centres if not properly handled.
While they called for a thorough, impartial and independent investigation into the incident, the group also demanded the immediate release of all persons unlawfully or unnecessarily held in custody, in particular those held on minor offences.
“We call for the immediate provision for all detainees and prisoners, information on the spread of the virus, urgent disinfection and distribution of sanitary materials to all holding facilities, and provision and access to running water at each facility,” they said in the statement.
“We call on Chief Magistrates in states, in fulfilment of their obligations under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, and in compliance with the 2019 Practice Direction of the Chief Justice of Nigeria on visits to police custody facilities to embark on inspection visits to police stations within their jurisdictions with a view to ensuring the immediate release of detainees based on established criteria, to decongest the cells and prevent likely infection and spread of Covid-19.”
It also called on the Attorney- General and Minister of Justice and State Attorneys General to also initiate steps for audit of police cells and correctional centres, including juvenile correctional facilities to decongest them.
Nigeria has judicial congestion, not congestion of inmates—Retired Prisons CP
For Inuwa Mohammed Abdullahi, a retired Controller of Prisons, Nigeria has no prison congestion proportionate to its overall population.
“We don’t have congestion of inmates but rather we have what is called judicial congestion,” Abdullahi said in an interview with The ICIR.
“In a country where we have a population of about even if the population is 100 million and you have about a half million inmates, you can say we have congestion. But a situation where we have almost 200 million population and we have inmates population of about 60,000 and you are talking of congestion. What kind of congestion. The only congestion is the judicial congestion.”
Explaining further, he said those who are supposed to be in the prisons are those who are on death row and those serving for capital offence such as robbery.
“What I mean by judicial congestion is that over 60 percent of the inmates are awaiting trial which means less than 40 percent are the ones who are supposed to be in the prison in the first place,” he said.
“About 65 percent are not supposed to be in prison; they are waiting trial. If you take 221, that is punishable by death or Decree 5 armed robbery and the rest, they are the only ones that are supposed to be kept in the prison. Otherwise, the rest are supposed to be at home.
“In the Western world, when a crime is committed, they do all their investigations immediately and by the time they take the person to court, within a very short time, the person is convicted. But in our own case, they will go and lump the person up in a prison and keep adjourning in the name of ‘we still need time to investigate’ and someone will spend seven years in the prison while they investigate.”
He lamented that if at the end of the investigation, the case cannot be established, such an inmate would be asked to go home without any apology or compensation.
Inmates by classification
A filed pictures of some inmates in one of the facilities
A recent report by Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) indicates that there are three types of persons in custodial centre, namely : the innocent, the petty/minor offenders, and the serious offenders.
According to the group, the first two groups should be quickly determined and released, particularly as the country battles the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report also identifies those who are terminally ill, the elderly, those who are awaiting trial but have spent more time than what the sentence of the offences they are charged for, the long term inmates with less than six months to go and those who are of good behaviour (including lifers).
Others listed by PRAWA in the report prepared in making the case for decongestion of correctional facilities also include the under aged and the mentally ill, especially those whose cases are classified as ‘civil lunatics’, including those framed as ‘criminal lunatics’.
Among other recommendations, the CSO called for an effective utilisation of non custodial measures / community corrections including restorative measures in line with Part 2 of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019, ACJA and other relevant legislations.
It said adequate rehabilitation, reintegration and community support mechanism should be put in place utilising the provision of the non custodial measures as provided under Part 2 of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019 as well as the relevant provisions of the ACJA / ACJL.
The PRAWA said proper documentation and links with families, and communities of the released inmates should be put in place.
“Finally, we should also look at those who are detained in the police cells and other detention centres across the country by several security and law enforcement agencies,” it said.
“There are over 17 institutions in the country that have detention facilities. Unfortunately, we have no centralised database of all those in Detention in the country at any given time. This gap should be urgently addressed for both planning and monitoring/tracking purposes.”
Nigerian Government responding to calls
Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior, during the meeting
Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior on Saturday held a meeting on the implementation of President Buhari’s approval for the decongestion of Nigerian Custodial Centres.
The meeting had in attendance, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Justice I.U Bello, Barr. Georgina Ehuriah and other top government officials.
Details of the meeting were not immediately made available as at the time of filing this report.
On March 28, the President approved the decongestion of Correctional Service formations due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Buhari had constituted a Presidential Committee for the Decongestion of the Correctional Centres, which will be coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Justice.
The committee has Malami as chairman while members are Chief Justice of the FCT and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service.
The committee recommended that courts, Federal Ministry of Justice, the Correctional Services formations, governors, attorneys general of states, intensify actions to reduce inmates amid the health challenges associated with Covid-19.
“The committee requested that Mr. President may wish to consider his powers of Prerogative of Mercy in speeding of decongestion, while governors of states and their CJ be encouraged to visit correctional service formations for the purpose of decongestion,” said a statement issued by Umar Jibrilu, Malami’s spokesman.
“The committee is of the view that the Federal Executive Council, FEC, and the state governments be encouraged to consider payment of fines in respect of minor offences for those categories of inmates that could not afford paying the same in respect of offences that attract fines arising from the convictions.”
Part of the resolutions were also that the Correctional Service should consider the possibility of moving inmates from congested facilities to centres that are less congested and have space for accommodation of inmates, among others.
It also recommended the amendment of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to legalise moving the Correctional Service formations from Exclusive to Concurrent Legislative List.
The statement suggested that categories of inmates that will be considered are those that stayed in Correctional Service Centres for a period above ten years and those that stayed as inmates for a longer period without any documentation relating to their detention.
“Others are those that have the option of fine, those that have been in the Centers on holding charges in respect of offences that the Magistrate that sent them to Correctional Service Formations do not have the jurisdiction to try the cases, among others.”
However, those excluded are inmates serving jail terms for capital offences such as murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and treason among others.
Already, spirited individuals, groups and organisations are making provisions to ensure that inmates are well protected against Coronavirus.
An official of the ICRC preparing hygiene materials to be donated at Maiduguri Correctional Facility
The International Committee of the Red Cross in Nigeria (ICRC), for instance, said it was increasing its support to inmates through provision of hygiene items to detention facilities, to help prevent disease outbreaks.
“Coronavirus affects everyone, but detainees are particularly vulnerable. We are increasing our support to them through provision of hygiene items to detention facilities, to help prevent disease outbreaks. Here, we prepare materials for detention facilities in Maiduguri,” ICRC said in a tweet.
Also, a group of women who had tasked themselves had taken hand sanitisers, soap and disinfectants to the prisoners to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
ON March 26, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Kano State branch urged its members to make use of their two months hazard allowance in the face of COVID – 19 pandemic, to purchase Personal Protective Equipment, PPE, for themselves in health facilities where it is unavailable.
In a memo announced by the association which was confirmed by the state chairman, Sanusi Muhd Bala, to The ICIR, it cited the rising number of COVID – 19 infections among doctors and health workers globally, which it described as alarming. The doctors were advised to consider the move as a priority to protect themselves while carrying out their duties.
Speaking to The ICIR in a telephone interview, Bala painted a grim picture of scarce protective equipment for doctors in the state, and their anxieties with the government for failing to adequately prepare for a potential COVID – 19 outbreak.
“The government has failed to make protective kits available to health workers despite the repeated appeal we’ve made to them in the past, especially during the Lassa fever outbreak in Kano State which claimed the lives of two doctors earlier this year who contracted the disease from their patients,” he said.
Muhammed Bala, a consultant nephrologist at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano and currently overseeing the welfare of doctors in the state, is one of the thousands of doctors in Nigeria without PPE, including masks, gowns and eye gear while treating patients.
“The hazard fee paid to doctors in this country is N5,000 which is very small, for instance, if a doctor on the frontline contracts a disease while treating a patient and loses his life there is no financial cover or insurance that covers him or his family.
“When we lost two doctors to Lassa fever early this year their families were given N1 million each and that was the end of it no other form of compensation has been made to-date, despite our letter to them,” he said.
Though Kano State has not officially recorded a confirmed case of COVID – 19, the lack of critical infrastructure for doctors is a source for worry in case of an outbreak.
For doctors at the forefront of containing the COVID -19 pandemic in Nigeria, the federal government pays doctors in public hospitals a monthly hazard fee of N5,000 monthly, which is equivalent to $13.64, for any risk they might encounter while carrying out their duties.
Their counterparts in Sierra Leone who attend to Ebola patients earn $115 weekly for the period they are working, which translates into a monthly payment of $460, more than 30 times what is earned by Nigerian doctors as hazard claims.
In Liberia, during the Ebola epidemic, which claimed the lives of 95 medical personnel, the Liberian government-paid health workers in the frontlines a monthly hazard pay of $435 while doctors received $825 monthly apart from their salaries which was almost doubled.
However, in some other African countries, the situation is different as doctors are not paid hazard allowances but have compulsory insurance indemnities for medical induced risks they could face in the course of offering treatment to patients.
On March 28, Ghana’s Minister of Health, Kweku Agyeman, announced a special life insurance cover for 10,000 medical personnel in Ghana who would be deployed to the frontlines in a COVID – 19 national pandemic response which is expected to last for a period of one year.
The total premium for the medical personnel was pegged at GH₵10,309,919 which is equivalent to $1,786,646 consisting of temporal disability from any cause during the period at GH₵10,000 per life, for the case of a critical illness within the time frame of the insurance is GH₵25,000 per life and a group life insurance plan to cover GH₵350,000 per life.
This means that if a Ghanian doctor treating a COVID – 19 patient contracts the disease the insurance fee that would be paid by the Ghanian government to the doctor is GH₵25,000 which is estimated to be $4,332 translating to $361 monthly.
In Congo DR, doctors who are first responders during the Ebola outbreak received $250 as hazard pay alongside their salary though complaints are rife among Congolese health workers who say that the risk they were exposed to was way higher compared to the pay they received.
Available data on hazard allowance to doctors in several African countries is not publicly accessible as some countries resort to offer a full insurance premium for their doctors to cover their indemnities.
Section 17 of Nigeria’s amended Employee’s Compensation Act requires that if death results from the injury of an employee, compensation shall be paid to the dependants of the deceased which if two or more children, a monthly payment of a sum equal to 90 per cent of the total monthly remuneration of the employee as at the date of death.
Maurice Elike, a paediatrician at the University of Abuja Teaching hospital, Gwagalada, speaking to The ICIR said the hazard pay was fair but if a doctor died from a disease contracted while treating a patient there was no insurance to cover such a doctor.
“The hazard pay is not substantial but it would be fitting to have full insurance to cover doctors who may die from a disease or contract the disease while treating a patient unfortunately that is not the case,” he said.
According to a study published on medRxiv, doctors who attend to COVID – 19 patients are prone to be exposed to the risks of getting infected without an insurance cover.
“However, as many individuals in the community may be asymptomatic carriers, physicians across specialities are at risk of acquiring the disease as a part of the patient contact during care delivery,” the study says.
