The Federal Executive Council has approved eight point five billion naira for the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The sum is meant for the procurement of twelve items in various quantities for the testing of Covid-19 in the country.

The approval was given at a meeting of the council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The approval was based on a memorandum presented to the council by the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire.

He was joined at the post-FEC press briefing by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; and the Minister of Environment, Muhammad Mahmood.

He explained that the approval was made to further equip the NCDC to respond appropriately to the community transmission phase of the pandemic.

The minister said, “We have already made plans to have at least one sample collection centre in every local government, minimum of 774 and these resources will be necessary to go around the 774 local government areas, to ensure that persons in rural areas and small towns are not excluded and to ensure that not only the big cities are the ones that are being attended to.

“That is the basis for the memo. The cost is N8.49bnn to procure the items that are involved.

“There is a total of 12 items, the quantities involved are large numbers which will be sent out later.”

Ehanire, said the aim is to help the country address community transmission of the pandemic, which has affected 586 Local Government Areas of the country.

“The Ministry of Health presented a memo on behalf of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to procure materials for preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic, which is ravaging every part of the world including our country.

“This is part of the preparedness for community transmission which is going on now and has affected over 586 Local Government Areas and we need the materials so as to be able to expand our testing and diagnostic capabilities.

“This memo is as a result of the Presidential task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 and the Special Intervention Funds managed by the PTF, which allocated these resources for the NCDC preparedness,” he said.

The Health Minister said the materials to be procured include sample and other kits for diagnostics, for use by laboratories.

“We are procuring these materials to be able to respond properly to community transmission phase,” he stressed.

Responding to a question on why the PTF was reluctant in introducing rapid test kits which makes results available In minutes as against PCR (polymerise chain reaction) tests, Ehanire said: “It is not that nobody is thinking of rapid diagnostic test, it is being used all over the world even in Nigeria today but the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other experts, have said that this test is not very reliable and that it also delivered a significant number of false positive or false negative result.

“So, if you go to a place where a percentage of test result can give you a wrong result, then you have to be careful. Whereas the PRC test, that is the polymerise chain reaction test is accurate and reliable. So if you want to know how accurate a person is positive, that is the test you ought to do, that is the recommendation of World Health Organization.