…allege incidence was sparked by money devoted for fighting scourge
The recent outbreak of coronavirus in Nigeria- Africa’s most populous country, has stirred heated debates in the social media regarding the credibility of the story owing to the amount of funds set aside for fighting the virus.
Confiance News gathered from Twitter.
The first case of the virus was said to have been confirmed on February 27, 2020 at the virology laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital following the arrival of an Italian in Lagos from Milan on February 25.
The outbreak of the virus has, however, elicited donations from notable foundations and International Organisations towards to cure and fight against the spread of the virus.
For instance, the World Bank Group recently pledged $12 billion to countries to contain the spread of the virus.
Also, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave $100 million, in Nigeria, Aliko Dangote Foundation gave N200 million to the Federal Government of Nigeria to deal the disease.
Consequently, some Nigerians took to Twitter to express the possibility that the case of the coronavirus in the country was a make-believe story to enable corrupt elements in the country access the funds set aside for the fight of COVID-19 for their personal gains.
According to former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, “The Italian that brought coronavirus into Nigeria has not been named & his picture has not been released to the public.The driver that was alleged to have driven him to Abeokuta said he did not do so. The passengers on the plane in which he flew into Nigeria cannot be traced.
“…The claim that he was an employee of a company & that he went to their office in Lagos after leaving the airport has proved to be false. Finally the Lagos state Comm. of Health went to see the Italian without wearing any protective gear.
Something doesn’t add up in this saga.”
This tweet by Fani-Kayode has, however, sparked comments by a handful of Nigerians.
Ifeanyi Chukwuma while reacting to Fani-Kayode’s comment said, “When i heard the amount of money set aside by The Nigerian government to fight the virus, i knew the virus must come to Nigeria, either by hook or crook. Same situation with boko harram, some people are benefiting financially from security funds so boko harram will continue.”
Another Nigerian known on Twitter as Ayemojubar tweeted, “Corruption Viruses need something to swallow.”
“The government did that for 2 things. I guess.
1. If they didn’t tell us there’s coronavirus in the country how will they spend the money allocated for the virus?
2. And maybe.. They just want us to be cautious, that’s why they give that information.
Let’s just be careful,” Standard Presenter tweeted.
“UN released $15m for countries fighting Corona and you must have a case to lay claim to that money,” PROF Ozo-Nna-Nyere-Nwa (Affidavit) tweeted.
Earlier, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had said that the coronavirus and other epidemics such as Ebola and Laser Fever was born out of corruption.
Twitter users also drew inference from his comment while reacting to Fani-Kayode’s comments.
“With all this now, can we all agree with Magu that corona-virus is a product of corruption?,” Temitope tweeted.
“Magu was right afterall,” Inst@brownsucre1112 disclosed on twitter.
“We owe him an unreserved apology. Man inadvertently or perhaps tacitly shared an information with us but he got the flak,” Victor N’Igbo said on Twitter.
A recent report by Al-Jazeera shows that Globally, more than 93,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the vast majority of them in China where the virus originated late last year and over 3000 deaths have been recorded in China where the virus was first detected.
Nevertheless, amidst these aspersions, the Nigerian government and international health agencies have advised Nigerians to be cautious and embrace safety measures to contain the spread of the virus.
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