NCAC launches facemask campaign to stem spread of COVID-19

Having distributed facemasks to journalists and various caregivers at the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Chief Segun Runsewe, has disclosed that the next stage of the council’s agenda is to launch a nationwide campaign to encourage Nigerians to embrace using facemasks in public.

The NCAC boss had last week produced and kitted security agencies, the media and a select group of professionals in the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic with branded facemasks made exclusively from Adire and Ankara fabrics, and also gave out sanitisers made from locally sourced materials in order to promote homegrown products to fight against the pandemic and also open avenues for cultural economy.

Explaining the need and exigency for the #protectnaijafacemask campaign, Chief Runsewe stated that there are empirical facts that wearing facemask has about 100 per cent capacity to prevent the spread of the micro droplets, usually transmitted through the mouth and sneezing.

“We at NCAC firmly believe that population wide facemask wearing is very important and essential to the suppression and prevention of the communal transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic, hence the awareness by NCAC to positively change the attitude of Nigerians towards wearing facemasks,” he stated further.

Drawing key example from the Czech Republic which successfully adopted facemask strategy with the consequent low COVID-19 impact in the entire European countries,  the NCAC boss who had in the past drove the national campaign to diversify the Nigerian economy through tourism, with “oil is good but tourism better and sustainable” campaign,  explained that the nationwide awareness drive on the use of facemasks will help create a post COVID-19 cultural economy to empower Nigerian women, widows and youths in facemasks production as part of NCAC intervention.

“We are already grounded in providing skill acquisition as part of our cultural mandate and with this campaign in focus, we can through our various offices in the six geopolitical zones empower the rural women and unemployed youths to take to tailoring and produce an average of 10 million facemasks in three days, made from local fabrics and according to our standard.

“This campaign is very important and I implore all and sundry to yield positively to it as it is devoid of lip-service but action driven. NCAC’s strong footing will deliver on this expectation,” Runsewe assured, noting that though COVID-19 protocols of social distancing, strict hygiene are important, the importance of wearing facemask cannot be overemphasised.

“Indeed, the spread of the disease across our nation with a population of 200 million people is a bit scary and despite the intervention of the National Centre for Disease Control, we must be seen to be culturally supportive through this campaign which also is not in any way the scientific solution to mitigating the scourge, but as a knowledge and awareness based effort from NCAC to empower Nigerians to wake up and live with reality of facemasks wearing in public places as a new way of life.”

On getting a national musical and entertainment response to the #protectnaijawithfacemask campaign, Runsewe noted that the possibility would be exploited and be given the face of “we are the world” musical extravaganza of the 90s to raise fund and awareness about mitigating poverty in the world.

“You can bet we shall adopt that musical effort but it shall be cultural in content and context and we may request musical and cultural troupes to come up with something unique that will appeal to national unity and consciousness.

“The artistic community shall be part of this campaign and we are definitely looking beyond the COVID-19 situation to the next level of truly responding and creating new culture entrepreneurs that can challenge our collective national strength for a better cultural economic tomorrow, to project Nigeria to the world as a nation conscious of its richness in culture and with a people with a strong resolve to overcome any challenge of life,” he explained further.

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