COVID – 19: Charles Aniagwu Recounts Experience

Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, recently discharged from one of the  COVID-19 Treatment Centres after testing positive for the virus, has recounted his experience.

Speaking on Channels Television’s “News Across Nigeria”, Aniagwu thanked Deltans and other Nigerians who prayed fervently for his recovery.

He explained that he voluntarily went for the test having been in the frontline of sensitisation and enforcement of the state government’s directives on measures to curb the spread of the pandemic.

The Commissioner said prior to going for the test he was not having any symptoms, but between the time he was tested and when the result came out, he lost his sense of smell.

Aniagwu stated that with the loss of the sense of smell, it became obvious that  something was wrong and 24 hours later, the test result came out and it turned out positive and he was instructed on what to do by the medical personnel; who he said were quite effective.

He said they made a number of drugs available and in the course of going through the isolation it became obvious tthat there was a very remarkable difference between COVID-19 and the malaria people were used to.

“Of course, if you have malaria, you are treated for two or three days and it leaves you or even when you administer one or two drugs, you are off the challenge, and if you have malaria nobody prescribes all sorts of vitamins for you with a view to boosting your immunity and taking stuffs that will make you clear your respiratory track.

“But, that is the prescription for COVID-19 because it is a viral infection that attacks the lungs and your respiratory system and makes it impossible for you to breathe.

“Doctors who kept check on us continued to ensure that we were free in terms of breathing because the moment you begin to have that difficulty it becomes quite challenging.

“Individuals also have various degrees of attack; for some persons it could be mild like mine wasn’t that terrible but for some other persons, it brings them down and it causes a lot of havoc in their respiratory system.

“And, possibly just like the medical personnel have said, if one has co-mobidity or what they call pre-existing health conditions, it becomes quite challenging,’’ he said.

The commissioner observed that early reporting of symptoms helped a long way in saving the situation as the virus might not have caused any havoc.

He said the challenge of trust between the government and the people that had existed over time was not helping matters in the fight against the pandemic, adding that the major challenges we had as a country and in Delta were the issues of prejudice andreligious bigotry where some persons believed that with prayer there was nothing like COVID-19.

“There is also the issue of ignorance and lack of trust that has existed over the years between the government and the people – a situation where somebody will believe that it is because one has been given money and some people even ask me how much was I paid.

“I wonder how much anybody will be paid even a governor of a state or the former Chief of Staff to the President for him to have died,” Aniagwu stated.

He announced that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and his family were doing quite well, saying they were quite stable and responding to treatment.

“The Governor and the first family are doing quite fine to the extent that he was part of the Governors Forum Zoom and the National Economic Council meetings to find solutions to the challenges thrown up by the COVID-19 pandemic.