In an unprecedented move, the U.S. president Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he is halting funding to the World Health Organization.

Trump has earlier attacked the UN’s organization and its president Tedros Adhanom for “not doing their job” properly and “dancing to the tone of China.”

His announcement has come in the middle of a global health crisis that is ripping the United States apart.

The U.S. provides $400 million to $500 million to the WHO each year as the highest donor, while according to Trump, China “contributes roughly $40 million.”

Trump’s anger has been blazing since coronavirus hit the U.S. with a devastating impact, threatening to cripple the economy he has been counting so much on for his reelection in November.

On Monday, Trump retweeted a tweet calling for the sack of Anthony Fauci, the director  of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAD), who has been at the forefront of the war against coronavirus in the U. S.  Fauci had said the Trump administration failed to put up stronger measures to curtail the outbreak, which resulted in many avoidable deaths.

While he has justified his perceived lax response to the crisis, Trump who appears to be looking for a scapegoat has been pointing the finger at the international health body.

“Had the WHO done its job to get medical experts into China to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out China’s lack of transparency, the outbreak could have been contained at its source with very little death,” he said.

Trump is blaming his decision not to impose a travel ban on people coming from China on the WHO, whom he said failed to act timely and opposed travel restrictions from China.

But his tweet on January 24 showed him heaping praises on China for the way they had handled the health situation back then.

“China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American people, I want to thank president Xi!” he tweeted.

Trump’s attack on the WHO on Tuesday was based on its objection to travel restriction in early January. Trump said the health body covered up the spread of the virus, and called its objection to the travel ban “disastrous.”

Though the WHO said in early January that such a travel ban would be “ineffective in most situations,” the group said it could buy countries time to “initiate and implement effective preparedness measures.”

However, the Trump administration showed lax in preparation and wasted valuable time procrastinating. The WHO declared coronavirus a global health emergency in late January, but it was until mid-March that Trump declared a national emergency.

Trump’s administration has been vocal in praising China’s handling of the outbreak. On Tuesday, top health officials of the administration praised China for alerting the U.S. early enough in January.

“Now, some of the assessments that the Chinese made at that time, were obviously not accurate. But you know, it’s a testament to them that within a short period time, as you know, they identified a new coronavirus, which they basically almost immediately shared online, and allowed us to develop the diagnostic test … that gave us eyes on this outbreak,” said Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on SiriusXM’s ‘Doctor Radio’ show.

With clinical trials of many drugs going on, this development has thrown the fight against coronavirus into jeopardy, leaving many countries in Africa and Asia severely vulnerable.

World leaders have called for international cooperation as a weapon to be deployed in the fight against the pandemic. The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday night that WHO needs to be supported as its role is critical in the fight against coronavirus.

“Once we have finally turned the page on this epidemic, there must be a time to look back fully to understand how such a disease emerged and spread its devastation so quickly across the globe, and how all those involved reacted to the crisis. But now is not the time,” he said.

While the call by the UN to push blame aside for now rings, Trump appears so fixated on his rhetoric that he is wittingly breaking the pandemic preparedness plan, drafted by his administration in 2017, which calls for “expanded international coordination on pandemic preparedness and response … and continued support for the WHO.”

However, Trump’s decision to defund the WHO has followed a pattern of criticisms of the UN and then the WHO even before the outbreak of coronavirus. Trump has notably questioned the US’ playing big financial roles in the UN, while other nations contribute little to nothing. It is seen as part of his efforts to pull the US back from playing lead roles in financing international multilateral organizations.

A day after the Federal Government of Nigeria announced the extension of the 14-days lockdown, the Lagos State Government has announced a new measure of palliatives to cushion the effects. Nigerians, especially those in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Ogun States had had it rough in the first 14 days of the lockdown, largely because of lack of food.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said on Tuesday that the state government is taking extra steps this time to ensure that vulnerable residents of the state have enough to eat while they stay at home.

“Today, I announce more measures to cushion the effect of the extended lockdown in Lagos. We have begun the distribution of relief items to 250,000 vulnerable residents and in addition to this, 100,000 youths will be provided one meal per day across LCDAs via our food kitchens” Sanwo-Olu said.

The governor also said the State Government has taken into consideration SMEs and MSMEs in the state, and would give them a moratorium of 3 months to ease the burden of the pandemic on them.

“We are also starting a conditional cash transfer to 250,000 people as part of our relief package while repayment on state facilitated loans to SMEs and MSMEs through LSETF will have a moratorium of 3 months to help ease the effect of the lockdown for businesses and their employees,” he added.

Concerning contact tracing, the governor added that the State Government will embark on house to house inquiry of the state’s residents’ travel and health history, as the Ministry of Health pushes to ramp up unidentified cases in the state.

“To ensure we track and eliminate the risk of a spread of COVID-19, officials of Lagos State Ministry of Health will be visiting our homes to obtain information on travel and health history of Lagosians and I implore you all to cooperate with them,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu said that as a sign of goodwill of the State Government, traffic authorities (LASTMA and VIO) will release all the vehicles impounded as from March 1 for minor offenses.

“LASTMA and VIO will release all impounded vehicles all impounded vehicles for minor offenses from March 1. All these will be done to reduce the impact of the lockdown on residents of the state. This period demands a bit of sacrifice from us all. Let us join hands to defeat COVID-19,” he said.

While the new palliative is considered better than the first, some elements of it still stir curiosity.

“How will the 250,000 vulnerable households be selected”? Is a question many that are asking.

The major reason being that almost every town in Lagos can account for close to 250,000 poor households that fall in the category of ‘vulnerable.’ So it poses a big challenge when the number is only 250,000 out of millions of vulnerable residents in the state.

On the other hand, the 100,000 youths who will be provided with a meal each day across the Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) in the state does not beg to differ. There are 57 LCDAs in Lagos State, and each has a youth population of over 200,000 each, with a peculiar problem of hunger, especially in the wake of lockdown that is gradually unleashing unprecedented thuggery in the state.

Across Lagos and Ogun States, reports of unrest have stirred concern for the safety of the residents as the lockdown continues. It has been based mainly on irate youths attacking people for food and money. In many areas in Lagos and Ogun States, residents have resorted to Virgil to protect themselves from the attacks.

“Is there an association of armed robbers in this Lagos”? A Twitter user asked as robbery incidents started to trend with the hashtag #LagosUrest. “The way this people plan their attacks at the same time in different areas of the state is something that bugs me big time.”

A local farmer who was conveying his produce to retailers was stopped in the middle of the road and his farm produce was carted away by a mob of hungry youth.

In Abuja, a video of a truck carrying food supplies and was attacked at Apo Roundabout surfaced online on Tuesday. The truck driver watched helplessly as the vehicle was torn open and the bags of rice were invaded ferociously by hungry youths.

In Agege, bread sellers are getting attacked and bread carted away by hungry residents.

That has been the case with vehicles carrying food supplies in the states were the lockdown is taking effect. With two more weeks to go, the situation is expected to advance from bad to worse. And in a highly populated state like Lagos, disaster looms.

The Lagos State Government has been urged to increase the measures of its palliatives to accommodate more residents of the state. It is believed that current measures taken by the state government will not only yield disobedience to the lockdown order, but may result in an insecurity crisis that will shift the focus of the government from the fight against coronavirus pandemic.