Ebola In Nigeria

Ebola: Teachers reject Sept 22 resumption date,see Jonathan’s response

THE National Executive Council of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), on Tuesday, directed that primary and secondary schools across the country remain shut until October 13.National President of the union, Michael Olukoya, urged teachers to ignore the September 22 resumption date announced by the Federal Government, saying the date was not realistic, in view of what was required to be done to prevent outbreak of Ebola in the schools.

President Goodluck Jonathan, however, said if schools were not reopened on September 22, it will send wrong signals to the international community about the Ebola situation in the country.

He said already, Nigerians were being stigmatised and segregated in other countries because of what he described as the negative narrative about the status of the virus in the nation.

Olukoya, who briefed newsmen in Abuja on the outcome of the NEC, meeting said based on the reports received from all the state chapters of the union, none of the states had adequately prepared for the resumption of the schools.He said the teachers were not ready to endanger their lives and those of the school children when necessary preventive and protective gadgets had not been put in place.

Olukoya added that most of the state governments coming out to say that they were ready for school resumption were only making political statements.

The NUT NEC has, accordingly, cancelled the celebration of the 2014 World Teachers coming up on October 5, as a result of Ebola outbreak.

President Jonathan spoke to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while reacting to threat by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) to embark on strike over government’s refusal to shift the date.The president maintained that government had put measures in place to deal with any possible future outbreak of the virus.

He said if the late Patrick Sawyer was to arrive the country now, no Nigerian would contact the virus, because of the level of preparation by government.“At present, there is no Ebola case in Nigeria; nobody in Nigeria has the disease now,” the president stated.

He said, “I am not saying we may not record Ebola case again. As long as the disease is still in the West Coast – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the likelihood that a character like the late Sawyer may come in through one way or the other is there. “But government is also very mindful of that. At present, our air and sea ports as well as land border posts are properly protected.

“As long as we Nigerians close our public institutions because of Ebola, the dispatches that go out to the rest of the world is that Ebola is a problem in Nigeria.

Ewedu As Ebola “Cure”: Nigerian Professor To Face Prosecution

The National  Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, yesterday said it will arrest and prosecute a Nigerian Professor of Ophthalmology at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, for what it described as unverified cure claim for Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, using native vegetable, Ewedu.

Meanwhile, the Agency has quarantined over 104 brands of sanitisers even as it arrested three Nigerian businessmen for alleged importation of expired hand sanitizers and fake Ebola test kits into the country.Making these revelations in Lagos, the Director General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii said the various pronouncements by some medical and pharmaceutical professors at these precarious times in the history of the country were more dangerous.

Orhii, who lamented the psychological trauma Nigerians have gone through in the last couple of weeks warned that the case of the professor at LUTH will serve as a serious warning to other Nigerians intending to mislead or cause panic through such bogus claims.

“One consequence of these unsupported and possibly fraudulent claims is that people may be misled into a false sense of invincibility on account of eating Ewedu or bitter kola and drop their guards. This is a national embarrassment and the Agency will not take such uncorroborated claims by supposedly learned people lightly,” he stated.

“These professors should not be patronised by Nigerians. Anybody who claims to have a cure for Ebola should come to NAFDAC, the Ethics Committee or the Treatment Research Group set up by the Federal government than causing more panic in the country.
”NAFDAC will immediately arrest and prosecute any Nigerian making such unverified claims as that could mislead the public.”

Ebola: Zamfara extends schools’ resumption to October 13

The Zamfara Government has further extended the resumption date for schools from Sept. 22 to Oct. 13,  the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Alhaji Lawal Talata Mafara, said.The October date had been fixed by the Federal Government when the Ebola Virus Disease broke out in the country but brought it forward to Sept. 22 after the government assessed the situation to be under control

Addressing newsmen in Gusau, on Tuesday, Mafara said the extension of date by the state government  was the result of a stakeholders’ meeting.He said the Ministry of Education considered the peculiarities of the state, “More especially is the Sallah festival which is just a week from the date.’’

Mafara explained that many children in primary and post-primary schools might not resume as expected and so the stakeholders agreed to move the date.He said the decision also affected students on exchange programmes in Zamfara.

Ebola: Nigeria,four other affected countries to receive 20m pairs of gloves

Malaysia Prime Minister, Najib Razak, said Nigeria and four African countries would receive 20 million pairs of medical gloves to fight Ebola. The other benefiting countries are Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He said on Monday in Kuala Lumpur that the donation was in response to the complaints by medical experts that the shortage of medical rubber gloves was a key problem in combating the outbreak. Razak said Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea would each receive three containers of gloves, while Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo would each receive one container. “Malaysia can make a unique and vital contribution to the fight against Ebola because we are one of the biggest manufacturers of rubber gloves,” he said. “We hope this contribution will prevent the spread of Ebola and save lives,’’ he added.

How we managed Ebola outbreak in Lagos–Fashola

It has been a whole week and Lagos has not recorded any new suspected case of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). As at Friday, the total number of confirmed Ebola cases in the country was put at 18 by the Federal Ministry of Health, four in Port Harcourt, 14 recorded in Lagos.

So far nationwide, there are now nine survivors, seven deaths and two sick patients still in isolation ward under medical care.

Speaking on how the state has been able to surmount the challenge posed by Ebola on the health system since it was imported into the country by late Patrick Sawyer on July 20, Governor Babatunde Fashola attributed the feat to the dedication of few health workers whom he said, “stood to be counted at a time of a most dire need; at a time when there was fear”.

According to him, “Ebola is a health issue of a different kind; one that underpins our responsibility as a government.“For now, I can only express our gratitude to all those workers who stood to be counted at a time of a most dire need; at a time when there was fear, and I must tell you, there was fear even at the highest level of government; but in spite of those fears, some men and women stood up to be counted, to lead the way. We would however talk about them later”.

Another reason why Lagos was able to ensure the EVD did not spread unnecessarily, according to the governor, was rooted in the state’s Cremation Law.

According to Fashola, “How we treat dead bodies in our country is now so important. Some things certainly must change, we can’t continue to bury people at the back of our homes. This is the time for a cultural evaluation of us as a people. Our cultural practices have health consequences and this is a time for a re-think on how we can get things done better.

“I recall when we passed our Cremation Law a couple of years back, there was a lot of uproar that we wanted to be burning dead bodies; but now, the facility has become very useful and with the benefit of hindsight, we now know there are things we must do, we must rethink how we live in order to prolong our collective lifespan”.