· Announces interim coordinating c’ttee
EXECUTIVE Director Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Mallam Yunusa Zakari Ya’u, has sent a Save-Our-Soul (SOS) message to Kano intellectuals, captains of business and leaders of thought as the infection rate for coronavirus continue to escalate in the state.
While sending the message on Wednesday via a statement, Mallam Y.Z. Ya’u, condemned the zero response to the pandemic in the state as he said there appears to be no leadership to fight the Covid-19.
In the absence of leadership, Mallam Ya’u announced an interim coordinating committee to be known as “Mobilising Academia, Business and Industry Community Against COVID 19 in Kano (MABICACK).” Members of the committee include Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim, Senior Fellow, CDD, Y. Z. Ya’u, Director, CITAD, Dr. M. A. Aliyu, Bayero University, Kano, Dr. Aminu Hayatu, Bayero University, Kano and Alhaji Bashir Mohammed, Private Sector, Kano.
MABICACK, he said, could be contacted through email at: mabicack@citad.org
The statement further noted: “In the last one week, there appears to be no leadership in the fight against COVID 19 in the state. The state Task Force which has gone comatose since certain members tested positive for the virus has not been expanded or reconstituted by the governor.
“During the week, there have been unconfirmed stories of a significant rise in the death rate in the city. These stories have fired the imagination of those who wish Kano to be the epicentre of the corona pandemic in Nigeria if not in Africa, hoping to find an essentialist explanation and narrative for this development. In the face of such widely spread “news” there has been no effective response from the state government, Mallam Ya’u stated.
He said it was exactly a week on Wednesday “since the commencement of the lockdown in the state. There are widespread complaints of hunger and yet there is no comprehensive pronouncement by the State Governor as to what palliative plans the government has and how it intends to reach out to those to be targeted.”
He said the business community needs to step up contributions that will be used to upscale testing centres, provide care and support and supplement government palliative plans. According to Mallam Ya’u, there is the urgent need for direct federal government intervention and the NCDC as they did in Lagos in order to avert disaster.
“Since last week when the governor announced a one-week order to lockdown the state, there has not been any direct communication between him and the citizens of the state and today at the expiration of the one-week stay at home order, no one is sure as to what to expect as of tomorrow.
“This morning, there was confusion at the only testing centre in the state and testing had to be suspended, no one is clear about what led to the confusion and the decision to suspend testing.
“While Lagos State has been able to establish multiple testing centres in each of its 20 local government areas, Kano State with the largest population in the country is still unable to manage its only testing centre,” Mallam Ya’u stated.
Mallam Ya’u added that in the face of the clear absence of leadership, it had become imperative for CITAD to appeal to all academics, intellectuals and leaders of thought in Kano State to individually and collectively think on response strategies. “What can we offer by way of suggestions, actions and concrete engagement to help in addressing the crisis in the state?
“We know we are in the state of lockdown but thanks, communication technology has provided us with tools to network, discuss and reach out to all to build solidarity to save our state,” Mallam Ya’u said adding that: “The Time to Think and Act is Now!”
