Coronavirus: We regret asking US billionaire for help – Nigerian government

The Nigerian Government on Thursday said it regrets demanding ventilators from a US billionaire, Elon Musk.

The government has consequently withdrawn the plea made by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to help provide treatment for the Coronavirus patients within Nigeria.

On Thursday, Musk, who is the founder and Chief Engineer, SpaceX, had, via his official Twitter handle said that his firm had extra ventilators that had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in America.

He had tweeted, “We have extra FDA-approved ventilators. We will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients and not stored in a warehouse.”

And in response, the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning showed interest, saying, “Dear @Elonmusk @Tesla Federal Government of Nigeria needs support with 100 to 500 ventilators to assist with COVID-19 cases rising every day in Nigeria.”

The response from the government met an immediate backlash from Nigerians on social media.

Following the backlash, the Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, issued a disclaimer that the post made on the Ministry’s verified Twitter account was unauthorized and regrettable and therefore has been brought down.

He tweeted, “An unauthorised post was made on the verified Twitter handle of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

“The fact of the post is regrettable because of which it is brought down. We have made sure our internal processes are strengthened that such doesn’t happen again.

“The error is highly regrettable.”