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General News of Thursday, 2 April 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

FG apologizes for seeking assistance from Elon Musk over COVID-19

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)

The Federal Government has apologized for a tweet from the Ministry of Finance seeking assistance from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Elon Musk had announced on Twitter that he would be shipping FDA-approved ventilators to hospitals worldwide to help in the battle against COVID-19.

"We have extra FDA-approved ventilators. Will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Device & shipping cost are free. Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients, not stored in a warehouse. Please me or @Tesla know", he wrote.

Reacting to the announcement, Nigeria's Ministry of Finance issued a tweet requesting for help from the billionaire.

"Dear @elonmusk @Tesla, Federal Government of Nigeria needs support with 100-500 ventilators to assist with #Covid19 cases arising every day in Nigeria", the Ministry wrote in a now-deleted tweet.

This was found to be awkward by Nigerians who mocked the Federal Government for seeking for help through Twitter instead of writing a formal letter.

Issuing a disclaimer, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, the Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications, revealed that the post which has been deleted was not authorized by the Ministry.

He wrote: “An unauthorised post was made on the verified Twitter handle of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

“The fact of the post is regrettable because of which it is brought down. We have made sure our internal processes are strengthened that such doesn’t happen again.

“The error is highly regrettable.”