UNMASKED documentary premiere: Stakeholders must rally govt to prepare for another pandemic, says Sanwo-Olu

*Collaboration critical to robust healthcare system – Emefiele

GOVERNOR Sanwo-Olu has said the different stakeholders in the socio-economic sectors of the nation must rally round government to prepare the country for another pandemic.

Speaking at the premiere of ‘UNMASKED: Leadership, Trust and the Pandemic in Nigeria‘, a documentary feature film on the outbreak and management of the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria, co-produced by Femi Odugbemi and Kadaria, Sanwo-Olu said the lessons from the presence of the scourge in the country can be used to improve the welfare of the people.

The governor stated that the issues and the lessons thrown up in the film are certainly not lost on him and his government.

“So, leaving here today is to ask how we are going to push this narrative forward. People in government, media, academics and entertainment need to learn lessons from this and get all of us better prepared before another pandemic will come,”, said the governor.

“It is not about medical pandemic alone; it could be hunger pandemic, security pandemic, governance pandemic. Whatever it is, how prepared are we? What is the level of our resilience?”

“I know that indeed what COVID brought forward to us, these are things that if indeed we take the positive side of it, we can use to galvanise and create tomorrow,” he said.

A visibly agitated Sanwo-Olu noted that it is not governance that has failed, but people, neither is it religion that has failed, but the people, saying:

“So, let us look at ourselves in the face and ask what are the lessons that COVID has indeed passed to our generation.

“What are we doing differently that will ensure that all of our mistakes known and unknown that COVID has caused us – how are we positioning ourselves to ensure that they do not happen again?”

Sanwo-Olu also noted that there is need to change the structure of governance in Nigeria to ensure development.

“The truth to be told is that the structure of our government system is the kind of thing that we should look into and change. If it is to say that the cost of governance is heavy and big, those are some realities we need to look up and ask ourselves the sincere truth. And we can only make the change when we have the opportunities to make those changes.

 “The change has to be about all of us; that change that we desire. COVID has fast-tracked it for us, that is to say that we are living testimonials to the fact that things can still be better in this country, things should get better, and things have to get better.”

Also speaking at the event, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, who thanked the organisers of the event for calling stakeholders’ attention to the need to build a more healthy and robust healthcare infrastructure that can cater for the vast majority of Nigerians, said the path to robust healthcare system is collaborative efforts between public and private sector stakeholders.

The CBN boss maintained that addressing the public health crisis along with the downturn in the economy required strong coordination.

Represented by the acting Director, Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi,  the CBN governor said a study by the World Health Organisation revealed that only four per cent of Nigerians had access to healthcare insurance.

Emefiele said that besides food, healthcare expenses was a significant component of the average Nigeria’s personal expenditure, stating that out-of-pocket expenses on healthcare amounted to close to 76 per cent of total healthcare expenditure.

He said at such level of health spending, individuals particularly those in the rural communities might be denied access to healthcare services.

Emefiele said that one key aspect which would address this was improving access to healthcare for all Nigerians.

 He said: “A key factor that has impeded access to healthcare for Nigerians is the prevailing cost of healthcare services.”

The CBN governor also advocated expansion of the insurance net to capture the pool of Nigerians not covered by the existing health insurance schemes.

He said the measures and interventions put in place by the CBN and private sector to improve government’s capacity response to the COVID-19 crisis was not enough to build a sustainable healthcare infrastructure.

He also called for support for research and development in healthcare.

“Given the challenges our nation faced as a result of the pandemic, it is indeed vital that all stakeholders work to building the capacity of our researchers and institutions to address domestic healthcare challenges.

”Strengthening collaboration and partnerships between researchers, public as well as private sector stakeholders across the country is crucial in enabling Nigeria to build a more robust and proactive healthcare infrastructure system,” Emefiele said.

Emefiele’s keynote soon devolved into a conversation around the the issues treated in the film, co-produced by Daria Media and Zuri Meda24 Media.

Moderated by the co-producer and presenter of the film, Kadaria Ahmed, it featured a panel discussion by the Director General of the National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, the Director of Evercare Hospital, Lekki, and a WHO Consultant and former Commissioner for Health, Ogun State, Dr Olaokun Soyinka.