Covid-19: What Happens to Kogi?

It's no longer news that Governor Yahaya Bello once argued with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) over the existence of Covid-19 in Nigeria.

The drama fully began when a team of NCDC visited Kogi in a bid to launch out their tasks of testing, contact tracing and isolating in the State. Shockingly, the governor demanded that the health workers had to be quarantined for 14 days before they could be allowed to commence work, since that was the Federal Government's guideline. The scene became more interesting when the NCDC officials refused to be quarantined, and headed to the exit. They left!

Thereafter, NCDC started controversially attributing some ailments and deaths in Kogi to Covid-19, but the government therein debunked it. At last, and till now, NCDC recorded a total of 5 confirmed cases for the State, which some insiders are still wondering where they got the figure from.

The question is, what happens to Kogi? Are they different from every other Nigerian? Many people are now confused, thinking, wondering if the low figure is because NCDC officials are not given free hand to operate in the State. But if that's the case, Kogi would have been another epicenter in Nigeria by now, due to lack of testing and discoveries. The disease must have killed almost half of the population over there, such that dead bodies would have been seen littering every nook and cranny of the State. So, the question still remains, what is happening in Kogi? Five cases in ten months!

Currently, and according to NCDC, Nigeria is witnessing a second wave of Covid-19 with scaring figures being recorded each day, but Kogi, out of all the States of the Federation, is yet to see a first wave. Another question is, can we use Kogi as a standard to discovering and reviewing the real picture of Covid-19 in Nigeria? Everything about this part of the Country with regards to the current pandemic is still obscured! Nigerians need a light!

Personally, and as the author of this article, I believe that Covid-19 exists, and I always preach in support of the recommended precautionary measures. But the question about Kogi has thrown so many Nigerians in the dark, using the State as a standard of investigation, and questioning the honesty of NCDC.

As a matter of norm, Governor Yahaya Bello's State cannot be different from the remaining 35 and FCT. We need the truth. NCDC must justify their feedbacks and the real state of the Virus in Nigeria in relation to Kogi's case.

Odunayo Ogunmodede,

isaacodunayo35@gmail.com, 07033504020