COVID-19: British Cabinet Office Honours Nigerian, Osagie |The Source

For helping in the mass production of Ventilators,  a Nigerian, Victor Osagie, has been honoured by the British Cabinet Office.

Many countries, at the peak of the pandemic Coroavirus, were, and still are, unable to cope, especially, with critical patients who need ventilators.

President Trump of The USA, at a point, promised, during a phone call to President Muhammadu Buhari, to send some Ventilators to Nigeria. There is no news yet if he has fulfilled the promise.

But in a Nigerian has made Nigeria proud with his ingenuity.

Nigeria’s Victor Osagie is one of those who came to the rescue with a mass production of Ventilators. And for that, he has been honoured by the British Cabinet Office.

Here, Robert Egbe writes about Victor Osagie’s feat and honour, and recognition.

“It is an honour well-deserved.”

That was how the Cabinet office of the United Kingdom described the ingenuity of a Nigerian Information Technology Consultant, Victor Osagie.

The office believes Osagie is one of the best Britain has to offer.

Reason: He used his ingenuity for the mass production of ventilators to boost the National Health System (NHS) fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.

A commendation letter from the cabinet office of the UK, and jointly endorsed by all partners, including Ford and Airbus, commended Osagie for his role in the just concluded ventilator challenge project, which was an initiative of the cabinet office.

“Thank you for your invaluable contribution to our ventilator challenge UK team. As we battled together to save lives threatened by Covid-19 your energy, ingenuity and camaraderie made a tremendous difference.

“You are a shining example of the best UK has to offer,” the office said.

Osagie ‘s team delivered the quality control system that rapidly converted disused warehouses into assembly lines.  His team  converted Ford Motors vehicle production lines and Airbus Aircraft production lines into ventilator production lines. They produced over 14,000 ventilators in 90 days. This boosted the NHS ventilator capacity from less than 9000 pre-COVID19 era to the over 25000 capacity in July 2020.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson noted that the ventilator challenge proved how much Britain can achieve when confronted with difficult problems.

Johnson said: “Bringing together the best minds in manufacturing, innovation and design was a right decision. Thanks to your effort, everyone who needs a ventilator had access to one. And the NHS has the vital machines needed to continue providing lifesaving support against the deadly virus.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancook said: “We protected the NHS during this global pandemic. The impact of COVID – 19 showed the best and the brightest stepping forward to serve their country.

The response the government received to this challenge was astonishing.”

A former director with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Gabriel Ehilebo, said Osagie would be value added if Nigeria could get him and his like to work with the economic sustainability committee to be able to robustly respond to the challenges posed by the COVID19 pandemic.

Osagie advised the Federal Government to redirect educational resources to producing doctors and nurses and Information Technology consultants that can be exported all over the world to earn foreign exchange and also serve as a cheap source of further enhancing the skills of such personnel who can subsequently return home to provide world class services.

“This will be an opportunity to addressing some of the challenges of graduate unemployment in Nigeria,” he said.