The family of former Managing Director of the Pipeline and Product Marketing Company, Suleiman Achimugu has confirmed his identity as the 67-year-old who was the first death recorded in Nigeria, from the Coronavirus epidemic.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Monday 23rd March 2020, when confirming the first death of the coronavirus in Nigeria, did not reveal the identity of the victim, as they had merely given the age of the victim to be that of a 67-year old man.
The NCDC confirming the first death in Nigeria no their official twitter handle reads:
“The 1st #COVID19 death in Nigeria has been recorded. The case was a 67-year-old male who returned home following medical treatment in the UK
He had underlying medical conditions- multiple myeloma & diabetes & was undergoing chemotherapy Our thoughts are with his family,” the NCDC had twitted.
A few hours after the tweet from the NCDC, a representative of the family of Suleiman Achimugu, one Abubakar Achimugu, released a statement for the family, confirming the victim as the former MD of PPMC, Suleiman Achimugu, saying:
”Our family is deeply saddened to inform you of the sudden death of our beloved Father, Uncle, Brother and friend. Engr. Suleiman Achimugu (former Md of PPMC).
He died of COVID 19 on 22/03/2020 some days after he arrived in Nigeria from the UK. He was in self-isolation upon his return from the UK and personally called NCDC after experiencing some discomfort that is related to COVID 19 symptoms.
He tested positive and was promptly evacuated to the specialist hospital. He died while receiving treatment. We implore the general public to pray upon his soul and the recovery of infected persons.
Your thoughts and prayers would be appreciated. Please maintain the public social distancing and restriction advice as we all walk through this very difficult time. He has since been buried according to Islamic rites. May Allah SWA have mercy on him,” the family said.
The figures released so far by the NCDC on the spread of the coronavirus, shows:
Total Confirmed Cases: 36
Total Active Cases: 33
Total Discharged: 2
Total Death: 1 (Suleiman Achumugu)
These were the figures released by NCDC as of Monday 23rd March 2020.
Before releasing these data, the NCDC had raised alarm over the influx of people from countries with high cases of coronavirus saying “they are the biggest source of transmission.”
“Our biggest source of risk in travellers returning from high-risk countries are expected to self isolate for 14 days. Our appeal to Nigerians is to take responsibility and prevent further transmission of the virus.
Collective action is critical to control spread,” NCDC said on Twitter.
Lagos State Director of Epidemiology, Biosecurity and Global Health, Dr Ismail Abdul-Salam, recently said that on a daily basis, not less than 38,000 people came into the country through the ports while 730 of this number are from coronavirus high-risk countries.
For a breakdown of cases by states in real-time, currently;
Lagos has 24;
FCT, 6;
Ogun, 2;
Ekiti, 1;
Oyo, 1; and
Edo, 1.