 I'm very honored to be here today to join you and to witness firsthand the very excellent work that you are doing here at the NCDC National Reference Laboratory in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other infectious diseases. I'd like to thank the staff of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control for the very warm welcome and for the great joy. The Director General has regularly updated me formally and informally on your work and especially as he has mentioned already at the monthly National Economic Council meetings where we hold briefings on our response to the challenges to public health and safety created especially by the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures that we are taking to protect our country. I call the Director General very frequently to ask him all sorts of questions. I'm sure that he by now must know that I'm forever on his case to find out what exactly is going on about all sorts of things and he's very generously given me very great updates on what is going on and how we need to respond to these of that. But I'm very proud of our public health workforce across Nigeria who have been doing outstanding work since January 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was first reported globally. This is not only the most severe pandemic in modern times that the world has seen. It is also the first pandemic response for the NCDC as our country's premier public health emergency response agency. Thousands of health professionals have been working tirelessly on Nigeria's COVID-19 public health response from the people across sample collection sites and laboratories ensuring testing and our dedicated physicians, nurses and other health workers in treatment centers providing care to the sick and also to our medical scientists that are conducting research on various aspects of this plague. We also of course have state public health teams working hard to ensure data reporting and analysis, contact tracing, risk communications and so much more. Within this period we've all worked extremely hard to activate testing in all states of our country. We have increased our knowledge of this disease. We have grown our capacity to swiftly identify those infected by the plague and render aid to them. I know that the work you do can often seem thankless and the long hours you put is unnoticed and sometimes appears unappreciated and often it happens that it is done in the background and in the shadows away from public attention and of course it will not often grab the headlines but it only seems this way. In truth this is the sort of work that deals nations and saves lives. This is the real impact of the work that you have been doing over the past 10 months. Your work has literally meant the difference between life and death for hundreds of Nigerians and it's fair to say that the staff of the NCDC and all of those engaged in Nigeria's COVID-19 public health response represent public service at its very best in Nigeria and an example of the type of public sector that we all want to see. Today I want you all to know how much the government and the people of Nigeria appreciate you. Many of you have had to stay away from your families for long periods and have even gotten infected in the course of duty and we just heard how one of you, I believe the name is Uche Mujoku, lost the life and the process of just trying to get the work done and just didn't get any mention. I mean I don't recall ever hearing about it but I think that our nation is truly grateful for the service of not all, not only all of you, especially those who are put in so much and who have lost so much and their families of course who have to bear the burden and of course the grief and just hearing the personal stories of Rahab, of Innocent and the three of them who is just incredible how much in such a short period you know so many young Nigerians have been able to not only learn and invite but also contribute to all of the public health response that we're getting. I think that this is a truly transformational period in the history of our country and it's a very silent revolution that's taking place in the public health sector but it is certainly worth noting and worth commending ourselves for. Indeed we remember you know and those who have given their lives on the line of teaching while keeping the rest of us safe. You are doing heroic work and as often as I said extremely challenging circumstances but I must say again that we're all extremely proud of you. We agree that we have the critical situation on our hands currently with an increasing number of cases being recorded. However we have made a lot of progress since Nigeria's first case was recorded in February of 2020. We've activated nearly 120 laboratories nationwide, 70 of them public laboratories and have significantly ranked up our testing capacity and case management. We've expanded the footprint of our sovereign public health response capabilities especially at the sub national level and in areas where previously such capabilities simply did not exist. Not so long ago test samples had to be flown out of the country for examination. This is no longer the case as you now have capacity to process samples internally. This is not an achievement that should be taken for granted but one that we should consolidate on. This very facility is a testament to the strides that we have made during such a short period. While we are not yet where we want to be as a nation we are most certainly not where we were at the onset of the pandemic. The excellent work I've witnessed today at the NCDC reference laboratory is one of the best examples of how this pandemic has produced at least one silver lining. A showcasing of the remarkable skills and talents of our public health experts here at the NCDC and of course across the health sector. Last week I was in brief meetings in briefing meetings listening to the landmark research of a team of professors from Luth and the DGAC Minh Honor Minister of Health was also with me. Those who have demonstrated the efficacy of the Ivor McTeen drug in the therapeutic management of COVID-19 and are researching its prophylactic use. A few days later I was listening to Professor Happy and his team who have produced a groundbreaking rapid test but more remarkably are developing a Nigerian anti-COVID vaccine. So I think that this is just incredible that all of this is happening in this country you know and of course getting very little mentioned I think it's just the bad news that seems to travel very quickly as I say. So to all staff of the NCDC and public health teams across the states thank you for the excellent work that you do. I want you all to know that your country is extremely proud of you. Incredible as it may sound you are indeed making history every single day. No one could have imagined how well our public health system will respond to a pandemic that has left better resourced health systems completely bewildered. When the record of our response to this unprecedented threat to our public health is written the efforts of the healthcare professionals will occupy a significant place with the thanks of a grateful nation. Ultimately our aim is to emerge from this pandemic with our nation's health capacities strengthened and the overall resilience of our healthcare system enhanced. We believe that this is very possible because of your sacrifice your commitment and your dedication to duty we can actually make this happen. Every achievement and capability we attain as a country in tackling this plague from this point onwards will be part of your legacy. Every life that has been lost to COVID-19 is a major loss to our country with this in mind we will not relent until we are set control over the critical phase of this pandemic. I'd like to also urge all Nigerians to continue to comply with the advice of our scientists and healthcare professionals and to continue to take every measure to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. We will come through this period of our history as we have come through all previous seasons of adversity by working together by protecting each other and by believing in each other and committing to seeing better days ahead for our nation. Again I'd like to thank you very much for all your hard work and thank you very much for the very warm welcome. Thank you. God bless you.