Nigerian Govt Deletes Tweet Requesting Ventilators from Tesla Founder

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Thursday, April 2nd, 2020

By Ganiyu Nasirudeen

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning has reversed itself on the request it sent to the American billionaire, Elon Musk for ventilators to combat the raging COVID-19 pandemic

The Ministry’s tweet (request) early Thursday followed Musk’s tweet the same day, that his firm – SpaceX, had extra ventilators that had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in America.

His tweet read: “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.”

The Ministry while responding to the tweet, tagged the billionaire and posted on its official handle: “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.”

Apparently due to the public outrage against the Ministry’s tweet, the post was later deleted and apology to Nigerians followed.

Special Adviser, (Media and Communications) to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, Mr. Yunusa Abdullahi, claimed in a statement that the tweet was done without the permission of the Minister.

“An unauthorized 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’’ the statement read.

Many Nigerians early Thursday berated the Ministry and Federal Government FG on social media on the request, which approach was considered to be wrong and embarrassing.

Many social media ‘soldiers’ were of the view that the FG, given its bloated spending and alleged wastage on the running of the National Assembly NASS had no reason to beg for such significant and emergency medical aid.