President Muhammadu Buhari has been appointed the ‘Champion of the COVID-19 response’ by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of State and Government.

The appointment took place on Thursday, 23rd April, at the Extraordinary ECOWAS Summit on COVID-19 which was held via teleconferencing under the Chairmanship of His Excellency, Mahamadou Issoufou, President of the Republic of Niger.

According to a statement issued by the Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, President Buhari urged fellow ECOWAS leaders to look beyond the challenges posed by the pandemic pandemic and tap into various opportunities that it presents. 

“In every challenging situation such as the current one, there are also opportunities. Our region must therefore seek to find those opportunities provided by this gloomy global outlook for its benefit by embarking on the implementation of such critical policies, which before now, will be difficult to accept”, he said.

Buhari urged his colleagues to intensify collaboration in order to fight against Coronavirus “this deadly pandemic through sharing our experiences and best practices,” in the region. 

President Buhari stated some measures his administration has been working on in response to the pandemic. These include:

a. The reduction of interest rates on all applicable Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) interventions from 9 to 5 percent and introduction of a one- year moratorium on CBN intervention facilities;

b. The inauguration of Presidential Task Force to coordinate national efforts to combat the spread of the virus and ensure efficiency and effectiveness in line with the Nigerian Action Plan on Health Security;

c. The provision of relief materials including medical and food supplies as well as conditional cash transfers of N20, 000 each for poor and vulnerable households and ;

d. The establishment of more isolation centers and testing facilities to contain the spread of the virus.

Buhari stated further that the pandemic has affected various sectors of the economy of the country, including severe fiscal and foreign exchange constraints, amid a slowdown in global economic growth that most nations are grappling with, have made it imperative for “our sub-region to refocus on accelerating the implementation of our popular vision of ‘ECOWAS of the people’ by adopting dynamic regional policies aimed at providing relief to our citizens.”

“Despite declining revenues, government continues to spend massively on the containment of the virus, medical care for those infected and minimizing impact of the crisis on the poor and vulnerable. This situation puts severe pressure on our finances by increasing our expenditures amid dwindling revenues. This invariably has led to a restructuring and reduction of our budget,” he added.

President Buhari advised other leaders to embrace agriculture, technology and innovation in order to subdue the effects Coronavirus has caused. 

“It is imperative that while addressing short term challenges, we should also explore opportunities to promote strong and dynamic agricultural policies that will guarantee food security for our people, creating jobs and reducing poverty in the region. We must innovate and use technology to boost the digital economy and do things differently, but better,” he said.

Buhari affirmed the relationship of Nigeria with others in containing the spread of the disease. 

“At a time of global uncertainty such as this, caused by the devastating impact of the COVID-19, let me convey Nigeria’s solidarity with all the Member States as we collectively battle to defeat the pandemic. I am greatly saddened by loss of numerous lives and extend my heartfelt condolences to families of those who have lost loved ones throughout the region. I also wish infected victims speedy and full recovery.”

As at 22nd April, Nigeria has recorded 873 cases and 28 deaths.