Nigerians react as FG begs Elon Musk for help on Twitter over COVID-19

Nigerians have reacted after the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning requested for support from billionaire Elon Musk in the fight against COVID-19.

Elon Musk who is the CEO of Tesla 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 responded with 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.

Below are some of the reactions gathered by MyNigeria.com.

Aisha Yesufu: "This is a calamity! On behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? The pit Buhari's government is bent on dragging Nigeria into is bottomless. The other time it was to apologise to Saudi Arabia for stealing the dates donated by Saudi Arabia to be given to the poor. What a disgrace!".

@AsiwajuLerry: "Are we that broke in this country?? All those billion Naira donations, wetin una dey take am do?"

@coolgson: "Next we'll hear will be from faceless presidency claiming the ministering Twitter handle was hacked. Shameless people".

@tony_divine81: "Some Nigerians are so foolish it's embarrassing. Many governments all over the world are soliciting for help and u are shaming ur country for doing same? The ventilators are to save ur useless lives and not for any other purpose. The children of perdition should beat a halt now".

@busy_brain: "Begging Elon musk for ventilators. This country is a joke.. Donations close to 26 billion, you refuse to give the mass some cash and you don't wanna use the donations to buy the ventilators. Then what's the purpose of the billions given to you? Mofos".

@SegunEmdin: "We are facing a global crisis so if begging Elon Musk means a lot of people won't die then by all means. All the world powers are in short supply of everything".

@MrOdanz: "We don't have to play politics with everything. I get that we don't like Buhari. Countries who produce ventilators are not selling because they need it. So our money is useless. The FG saw an opportunity to acquire them from Elon Musk and took initiative. So what's the issue?"