By Hamilton Nwosa(Head, The New Diplomat’s Business and data tracking desk)
The federal government has said that its mandate and mission to help Kogi State in its response to the COVID-19 crisis was derailed. Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, who spoke on the issue on Friday said there were some operational differences that accounted for the mission’s derailment.
The Minister who was speaking at the daily media briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 said the PTF team had to return to Abuja without accomplishing its tasks in Kogi State.
He said: “We tried to send a team of the Ministry of Health and the NCDC into Kogi yesterday but there were some differences there to processes,” he said. “This will mean that we need to re-engage the state governor again and work with him and his team to create the conditions to which the Ministry of Health and the NCDC can complete their job.”
Recall that on Thursday, a Federal government team made up of officials of the NCDC and the Department of Hospital Services of the Federal Ministry of Health had made an unusual escape from Kogi State following alleged fears that they were going to isolated and subsequently quarantined by the Kogi State Government officials.
The team had the mandate to among other things verify and establish the assertion by the state governor, Yahaya Bello to the effect that Kogi is COVID-19 free.
