The BUK initiative
The Faculty of Engineering, Bayero University Kano (BUK), – last week – set-up a seven-man committee to design and fabricate prototype ventilators. According to a signed statement from the institution, the Dean of the faculty Professor Salisu Dan’Azumi said the seven-man committee was set up with a view to producing prototype ventilators for emergency use in hospitals and other isolation centres in Kano.
According to Dan’Azumi, the committee under the chairmanship of Professor Abdussamad U. Jibia from the Department of Mechatronics Engineering is expected to design and fabricate a prototype ventilator.
He said the Committee, which had since swung into action, was given two weeks within which to present its report to the Faculty Board including the design and construction of prototype ventilator for emergency use in hospitals and homes to treat patients of COVID-19 pandemic.
Equally, Professor Dan’Azumi revealed that the committee was charged with the responsibility of suggesting the modality for mass production of the designed and fabricated ventilators, adding that if it succeeds in the production of the equipment, the deanery will approach the university management for sponsorship and possibly reach out to relevant agencies such as Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), federal and state governments for mass production.
The team, he stressed, had been brainstorming with a view to achieving the desire objectives. This is cherry news in a period of gloom. Penultimate week, two local technicians in Jos, Plateau State fixed two broken down ventilators at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) free.
No one mandated then to undertake the venture, but since they are public spirited individuals they felt the urge to assist fellow Nigerians and humanity.
These initiatives from BUK and the Jos technicians are commendable developments in a country where most Nigerians have come to view their varsities through one prism – incessant strikes. My desire is for this initiative to have a domino effect on our numerous research institutions – within and outside universities – investing time and resources to seek for solutions to everyday ordinary challenges.
This is time for our academics to come out and be counted. But one critical challenge remains: who will fund the researches? Research needs grants and funding with clearly defined goals and objectives. If there is anytime we need productive researches it is now.
It has been widely reported that private individuals and corporations have donated billions of naira as their contribution to fight the pandemic. Since necessity is the mother of invention, I’d suggest that a fraction of this amount be set aside to assist in local research efforts to proffer solutions on how to stem the scourge and invariably kick start innovations toward the production of local medical equipment.
Let’s not forget that Lassa fever is also ravaging our population in some states of the federation – COVID-19 has pushed it out of the news headlines.
In these unprecedented and extraordinary times it would not be out of place to call on corporate Nigeria and well-meaning private individuals to join forces to push for the establishment of truly world class medical centres in the country.
The 130-bed isolation centre put together in record time by Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) and presented to the Lagos State government is worth commending. I understand one is being put together by billionaire Aliko Dangote in Kano. That such facilities were, or being, put together in record time shows that with determination things can get done.
While appreciating GTBank for their kind donation; corporate Nigeria would write their names in gold if they go steps further in subtly insisting that something positives comes out of this period when we eventually look back.
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I urge them to come together and put in place modalities that would bequeath a world class medical facility to the Nigerian people. If such facility comes into fruition, Nigerians can use it as a base to insist and force the government to take things up from there. They would be remembered for posterity more if they do this than merely donating money.
However, the uncertainty surrounding donations by private individuals and corporate organisations towards the coronavirus containment is still worrisome, especially as Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, stated that the presidential taskforce on COVID-19 has not received “any kobo” from any private individual or organisations. But this, I believe, will obviously be sorted out, perhaps when these individuals and organisations know where their money is going into?
In this global fight against the COVD-19 pandemic, two important components – testing kits and ventilators – are in short supply. Even advanced western nations face this challenge. On this page last week, I mentioned that Innoson Motors said it is willing to tamper with its production line to produce ventilators if the federal and state governments support its efforts by placing orders or providing loan facilities.
The Auto manufacturer says it applied for an N4b loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the presidential taskforce and a private bank. It says it already had plans on ground to fabricate hundreds of ventilators within the next 90 days.
To state that COVID-19 has exposed what we all already knew – challenges faced by Nigerian health sector – will be an understatement. It is quite unfortunate – but not surprising – that Nigerian tertiary hospitals, where very critical medical cases are referred to, face the challenge of ventilators.
It exposes the fact that people with critical respiratory problems will have no help managing their breathing difficulties. It also shows why people die despite being in hospitals where consultants could handle their cases.
Unfortunately for Nigeria, the urgent need for ventilators came at a time of global economic uncertainty occasioned by the drastic fall in global oil price. There was uproar on Twitter recently when the federal Ministry of Finance through its verified twitter handle pleaded for ventilators from an American billionaire, Elon Musk, during his Twitter Ventilators Give-Away.
The ministry later stated that the tweet was unauthorised. We are in a dire situation now thus this is not the time for apportioning blames but to seek solutions.
It’s a known fact that ventilators are not cheap to procure. This is why there is a global shortage of the life-saving machine. Yes, Nigeria is not the only country in need of the machine; it’s just that ours is very pathetic. But one way or the other, ventilators must be brought in for the sick.
What is gradually becoming clear in this crisis now is that we may not be able to return to our familiar pre- crisis reality. Pandemics, wars, and other social crises often create new attitudes and behaviours which will need to be managed. Imagination – the capacity to create, evolve and exploit mental models of things or situations that don’t yet exist – is the crucial factor in seizing and creating new opportunities and funding new paths of growth.
Imagination is also one of the hardest things to keep under pressure. With imagination, we can do better than merely adopting to a new environment – we can thrive in shaping it. To do this, we need to strategise across multiple time scales, each requiring a different style of thinking.
In the COVID-19 crisis, for example, this is what we are already doing – rapid reaction and defence. Policy makers should however have it at the back of their minds that the focus should shift to constructing and implementing plans to understudy and prepare for the likely economic recession that may follow. As the recession – I hope this doesn’t happen – abates, the focus shifts to rebound and making adjustments.
Over time, the situation becomes more malleable and imaginative countries shift their focus to reinventing – seeking opportunities in adversities by applying more creative approach to strategy. Crises place heavy demands on leaders and it’s easy to loose times for reflection, but great leaders are trained to reflect in the most difficult of periods.
