By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
The Presidential Task Force on Ebola said on Wednesday that the Nigerian government is collaborating with its Ugandan counterpart to contain any outbreak of Ebola.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists at the end of a meeting at the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
Asked to react to the statement credited to Ugandan authorities that the country does not have any case of Ebola, contrary to reports that a Nigerian woman contracted the virus in Uganda, the Minister said:
“All I can tell you is that we are collaborating with our sister African nation, Uganda. What is important is that we have found this one case. We are doing contact tracing, and we are putting containment measures in place to ensure that it does not enter our population.”
He said the Federal Government has competent authorities to deal with the development, adding: “We have done it in 2014, and we have good public health institutions.
“Nigerians should be reassured. We must be vigilant, but not panic. People should respect public health information from trusted sources and not spread misinformation and false rumours.
“We would be truthful to Nigerians with the information that we receive on a daily basis. I will be receiving a report. The NCDC has an incident management system.”
The Minister said the NCDC is working hard and that the task force is also active.
“So, we have things in place that give us confidence that Nigeria can weather this public health crisis, which has taken five months without happening, and we have seen other countries also deal with it.
“So, let us not fall into the trap of hysteria or panic. It is one case. It is an imported case, and we are containing it. And we will continue to take measures. If the situation changes, we will come out and inform Nigerians.”
He said that at the last Security Council meeting, there was a push, with the President, to review response plans.
“The truth of the matter is that we have a very good response coordination mechanism involving the Office of the NSA, public health measures and the task force, and that has served us well.
“In fact, we are a large country, and I travel a lot. We have one case, and even that one case came from outside our country. We have been able to detect it, report it and take efforts to contain it. We should not fall into the trap of panic or hysteria, which is counterproductive.
“But we have to be vigilant, and that is what we are doing. In the last 24 hours, we have been on top of it. I am going back to a meeting. We will have another meeting tomorrow (today), so we are on top of it because health security is very important, and we will continue to do that.
“We will be focused. There is a lot of noise from even those who have no idea. Today, just a couple of hours ago, I spoke to the person who discovered the virus 50 years ago.
“It is a 50-year-old virus, and it has had multiple outbreaks in the past. There have been almost 10 or 11 different outbreaks, and they were able to contain them.
“Kenya has been able to contain it. Uganda was able to contain it. France was also able to contain it. But in Nigeria, because people do not think beyond Nigeria, whenever they hear of something new, everybody panics. We cannot be complacent.
“Absolutely, we have to focus. We have to execute. It requires discipline. It is not talk; it is actually doing what is needed. We have the resources, we have the backing of our President, and we have the mechanisms across institutions.
“So, we will continue. Now, it is also left for people to behave responsibly, because if somebody knows something and you say, ‘Oh, isolate yourself,’ and then you hide behind the door and go out to the market, that is not in the government’s hands.”
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