Lai Mohammed says the phone call happened on Tuesday on Trump’s request.
United States president, Donald Trump, has promised to send ventilators to Nigeria to help in its fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID19).
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced during a media briefing on Tuesday, April 28, 2020, that the US president made the promise during a phone call with President Muhammadu Buhari earlier on Tuesday.
He said the conversation centred on Nigeria’s response to the coronavirus pandemic that has infected over 3 million people across the world.
“President Buhari used the opportunity to brief the American president on the steps Nigeria is taking to contain the spread of the disease.
“For his part, President Trump assured that the United States stands in solidarity with Nigeria in this difficult time, and promised to send ventilators to support the country in its fight against the pandemic,”Mohammed said.
Since COVID19 was first detected in China in December 2019, medical equipment, like ventilators, have become a very necessary resource that many state and federal governments across the world have been scrambling for.
Earlier in April, Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning made a very public appeal on social media to U.S. billionaire, Elon Musk, to donate ‘100-500 ventilators’ to the country’s fight against coronavirus.
Trump has received flak from many quarters for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. which has recorded over 1 million infections, the highest of any country in the world. Over 56,000 people have also died, also the highest of any country in the world.
Nigeria has recorded 1,337 coronavirus cases in 32 states and the FCT, as of April 27.
255 people have recovered, but 40 people have died.