THE Federal Government, on Monday, said it has “contained” the spread of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country.This is even as the government has described as ill-conceived, the recent strike embarked upon by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), especially when the nation’s health sector was under threat.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr Linus Awute, spoke in Abuja, on Monday while briefing directors, deputy directors at a meeting with the Head of Service of the Federation, Mr Danladi Kifasi.
Kifasi had asked Awute to enlighten the top echelon of the Federal Civil Service on the Ebola outbreak and precautionary measures to take, in order to prevent the spread of the deadly disease.
He said the Federal Government was able to contain the virus because of proactive steps taken immediately the case of Ebola outbreak was reported in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
He revealed that government was conscious that Nigeria could be possible destination of the epidemic in view of her strategic position in Africa and started preparing.
According to him, these proactive measures paid off tremendously, saying this was why the health officials were able to suspect Patrick Sawyer, the late Liberian-American, who imported the virus into the country.
Awute, who said Nigeria had rejected to be a reservoir of the killer disease, urged Nigerians to promptly report any suspected case of Ebola for immediate action by the health officials.
He said the NMA had no basis for the strike it embarked upon when the country was confronted by Ebola crisis ravaging some African countries.
Although NMA had suspended the strike, but the Permanent Secretary said the doctors could not play any critical role towards containment of the virus.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, on Monday, debunked insinuations by some stakeholders in the country that the Federal Government was influenced on the change of resumption date of students for the 2014/2015 academic session from October 13 to September 22 over the Ebola virus containment.
The minister, who stated this while addressing the House of Representatives’ Committee on Education on the controversies that trailed the Federal Government’s decision to shift the resumption date of students, maintained that government’s new directive was based on professional advise from the Federal Ministry of Health.
This is coming just as the NMA backed out on its earlier position against the new date proposed by the Federal Government.
The minister, while debunking the allegations that the Education Ministry was influenced by private school owners to bring backwards school resumption date noted that “at no time did anybody influence this (resumption date) decision. There were reports that the private sector influenced the decision. That is not true.
“It may surprise you that when we fixed October 13, some people were very angry with us,” stressing that “what we did was purely on the professional advise from the Federal Ministry of Health. You have to live and survive to get education.
“If the Federal Ministry of Health tells us tomorrow that it is not safe for people to congregate, we will have to comply,” the minister stated.
While lamenting criticism from Nigeria Union of Teacher (NUT) on the matter, the minister said the association never got to the ministry on the shift in school resumption date before it went to press, stressing that “people are trivialising this matter.”
The minister also accused NUT of dancing to the gallery, saying, “the civilised thing I expect the NUT to do is to reach out to the minister, permanent secretary or any senior official in the ministry.”
On his part, NMA president, Dr Kayode Obembe, stated that: “As regards the issue of schools’ resumption for the first term of the 2014/2015 academic year from this September, it is important that in order not to feed into the unhealthy fear monster in the country, schools should resume.”
In a related development, the Rivers State government, on Monday, warned that it would shut down any primary or secondary school without pipe-borne water.
State Commissioner for Education, Alice Nemi, gave the warning in Port Harcourt, during a sensitisation workshop for teachers in the state on EVD.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the workshop was jointly organised by the state ministries of education and health for teachers in public and private schools.
The commissioner said potable water would ensure that the teachers, pupils and students washed their hands regularly with soap.
Nemi, however, did not say when inspection of the schools would start.
NAN reported that regular hand washing and avoidance of body contact were essential to preventing the spread of Ebola virus.
Dr Dora Era, a member of Ebola Emergency Response Committee (EERC) in Rivers State, said the infra red thermometer was being used to check temperature of persons entering the state.
She said many victims of Ebola virus were health workers and many Liberians died because health workers did not handle the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) properly.
The proper ways to wash hands and use the PPE were demonstrated to participants.
A participant, who spoke to NAN on condition of anonymity, said although the workshop was not properly organised, teachers were made to know the basic things on any outbreak in school environment.
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