WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks at a daily briefing in Geneva, Switzerland on March 9. Photo: Xinhua

Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said the Nigerian government supports the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, saying that they believe he is capable of guiding the organization and has done a remarkable job in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WHO's decisions are made based on data provided by different parties and suggestions from various experts rather than Tedros' personal thoughts. "We are opposed to personalizing the issue and fully support the WHO," Onyeama noted. 

The remarks were made Tuesday during a meeting between Onyeama and Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria Zhou Pingjian. 

They came after Tedros said at a press conference on April 8 that he had received death threats and racist insults while running global efforts to fight against COVID-19 for the last two or three months. 

Tedros made the comments in response to a question on whether criticism from world leaders such as US President Donald Trump in the midst of the global pandemic makes his job more difficult. He commented specifically on the insults that he said came from Taiwan.

Trump announced Tuesday night that he is halting funding to the WHO, accusing the organization of bungling its response and failing to communicate the epidemic's threat, which is seen as a move to deflect scrutiny of his own administration's slow response to the outbreak, US magazine Politico reported. 

Global Times