By Hamzat Lawal
The book, An Imperfect Storm: A pandemic and the coming of age of a Nigerian institution, written by the immediate past Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, with his wife Vivianne Ihekweazu, Managing Director of Nigeria Health Watch, is a memoir written like a fast-paced thriller, which will keep you turning the pages, not just because it captures the tense and trying COVID-19 years, but for its down-to-earth narration – peppered with suspense and revelatory intrigue.
It grips you in an exciting ride to that climactic realization that, perhaps, the unseen hands of the Almighty Creator had prepared an ordinary hardworking Nigerian to lead his compatriots in a life-or-death fight against a strange pandemic of global dimension.
In this book of 27 chapters, divided into four distinct periodic and thematic parts (The Gathering; Synchronicity; Attenuation; and Full Circle), there is so much information crammed into 263 pages, that anyone from any discipline would certainly encounter a key that opens the door to personal reflection.
Granted, the COVID-19 pandemic affected all of us, and so could be the common denominator for every reader. But I am persuaded to believe that there is something magnetic about a man and or a woman that carries on a mission with passion. Ihekweazu’s single-minded devotion to his life work and professional calling, as depicted in every fabric of the account, sparks a light that warms the reader from the beginning to the end. He was able to take us on a virtual reality ride into his personal life, the way only a gifted story teller could do.
In chapter seven “Blueprint for fighting pandemics”, I felt goose pimples as I read his experience during the 2017 meningitis outbreak in Northwest Nigeria, caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitides serogroup C. He narrated how the lack of healthcare infrastructure caused ‘scales of idealism to fall from his eyes’.
“Centre’s providing care were comprised of essentially of people, even children, being treated underneath trees whose branches held infusion bottles, the intravenous lines swaying carelessly in the wind while attached to the patients,” he recalled.
I could relate. This was almost the exact picture of the situation when I worked in Bagega, Zamfara State in 2010, during the lead poisoning public health emergency. In fact, I chuckled when I read that when images of children receiving medication under the shade provided by trees were published on the front pages of most dailies, without the expected outrage.
He expected condemnation and a demand for accountability; but there was none. He was shocked that there was no public outcry and no allocation of resources to address the situation. This was the exact sense of outrage that overwhelmed me in Bagega which led to the #SaveBagega campaign when I demanded for fiscal transparency in government’s intervention in the endangered community back in 2011.
Then, ten years later, I activated the same #FollowTheMoney campaign to ensure that monies budgeted for COVID-19 were deployed transparently.
An Imperfect Storm ushers you into the life of a man and his mission. Starting from the cradle in Hamburg, Germany, to the classroom in Nsukka, Nigeria, we encounter a boy who initially wanted to be like his medical doctor father; and who, after doing all in his power to specialize as a surgeon, was finally pushed by fate to public health. The same fate joined him with a life partner who helped shape his career, from London to Johannesburg, and then to Abuja when he was appointed to head the infant Nigeria Center for Disease Control.
In 2016 when he assumed office, the NCDC had no legal mandate as a government establishment (which means no funds to function); had no strategic plan; had less than seventy staff; had no website; and had no reference laboratory. Hence, An Imperfect Storm, solves the riddle of how such a fledgling institution with a ragtag staff and scanty infrastructure was able to seamlessly morph into the well-oiled machine that drove Nigeria’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic within the space of three years.
During the uncertain days of the pandemic, those updates from NCDC to our phones and social media handles had a soothing effect on the jarred psyche of anxious Nigerians. One never, for one moment, imagined that the agency was actually a baby in the bureaucratic world – now being forced to become an emergency mother to all of us.
In the chapter “The interface of politics and policy” the book, through a concise and clear narrative, like surgical blades, wades through the conspiracies that defined the lockdown days in 2020, especially the one surrounding the COVID-19 related death of late Chief of Staff to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam Abba Kyari.
Indeed, one could say that the book is the first authoritative account dispelling several pandemic-related conspiracies – including the one about the Infectious Diseases Bill.
Similarly, in chapter 15, ‘The consonance between clinicians and academics”, we see how the pressure inflicted by the pandemic – dying patients, stalled economies and public panic – set off medical quackery that dominated global conversations and nearly derailed response efforts. In Nigeria there were three major waves of such ‘fixes’ and pseudo-scientific theories. They were the hydroxychloroquine theory; the Madagascar cure; and the zinc and ivermectin medications.
An Imperfect Storm makes it clear that it was not only about contact tracing, testing and isolation; the NCDC and its indefatigable staff led by a determined public health expert must have to communicate with the right tone, language, and message, that informed Nigerians of the situation while allaying their fears and providing reassurances.
In the book, I saw a man who was able to show that managing the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic was indubitably the most difficult professional challenge he had faced in his career. I also saw a woman giving all in her world to support her husband, and enable him achieve to optimum capacity in service to nation. It is a tale of love, fear, faith, service and patriotism woven into one buffet of literal clarity.
Personally, I was inspired to discover that I share similar leadership philosophy and style with the author. Just like Ihekweazu revealed, I also see my staff as colleagues, and I always make them, “forget that I’m the DG/CEO”. I want their opinion, to understand their motivation and assess their understanding of their responsibilities.
Additionally, the chapter on “Bureaucratic battles” was a mirror of sort to see my own career and the challenges I faced as a young Nigerian perceived by some ‘elders’ to be trying too hard to make a change. Ihekweazu, with his progressive and inclusive methods at the NCDC, came face to face with some reactionary forces that did not want him to shake the table, so to speak. As he wrote, “whispers circulating along the corridors of the ministry indicated that I was a ‘young’ man who was ‘pushing too hard’ and not ‘carrying everyone along’”.
Fortunately, with his actions, appearance, strategic planning and commitment to excellence, he was able to deliver results and establish the NCDC as one of the most respected public health agencies in the world, leading to more countries following Nigeria’s lead in setting up a national public health institute.
What was left out? I feel the memoir is incomplete without the Ihekweazu’s taking us into their vision for a personal project (Foundation) that would leverage their experience and networks to give a legacy value to their country, Nigeria. Secondly, I must mention that his alternating time-line style of writing has a dramatic effect that could be better explored through a movie script in order for his COVID-19 story to go beyond a documentary.
All things considered, An Imperfect Storm is worth a space in every library in the nation and beyond. Importantly, as the World Health Organization just declared the MPox an international health emergency, we now have a resource in An Imperfect Storm to guide us as the threat evolves.
Hamzat Lawal (Hamzy!) is a renowned activist and campaigning currently mobilizing, organizing and leading a group of young people in bringing needed changes across African communities using Follow The Money. He is currently the Chief Executive of Connected Development (CODE).
