Kogi govt fires back at NCDC, insists no Coronavirus case in state 

The Kogi State government has insisted it does not have any COVID-19 case in the state.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, insisted that their self-assessment app has been effective in checking for Coronavirus cases.

Kogi, Yobe and Cross River are yet to record any case of COVID-19.

However, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, feels they have not sent enough samples for tests. 

Fanwo has now said Ihekweazu’s comments were unfair, arguing that Kogi State has followed all NCDC and World Health Organization (WHO) advisories.

“While we are not surprised that they have worked for us so far in keeping our state COVID-19 free, we do find it disconcerting that the lead agency in the fight is possibly expressing doubt in their efficacy while simultaneously denouncing us for following her own guidelines.

“In fact, we built our self-assessment app around the NCDC’s checklist for ‘suspected and high risk’ cases and as at last week, it has been visited nearly 200,000 times with over 14,000 completed self-assessments out of which only about 60 presented cause for further investigation which then failed to meet the COVID-19 spectrum,” part of the statement read.

Fanwo added: “We sincerely hope the NCDC and Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu will quickly come out to repudiate or retract those dangerous comments (whichever is applicable) in order to minimize damage to the mutuality of trust and cooperation which we need to continue working together through this pandemic.”