Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila. Photo: State House
The Federal Government on Wednesday credited the work of the Presidential Task Force on Ebola Preparedness for the quick detection of Nigeria’s index Ebola case, assuring Nigerians that it can handle the disease.
Chairman of the task force and Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, said this after an emergency meeting of the group at the State House, Abuja, on Wednesday.
This is according to a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, titled ‘Ebola: FG Assures Nigerians of Containment Strategies.’
Gbajabiamila said the task force had been working behind the scenes since it was inaugurated in June, which was why the case, discovered on Tuesday, was identified easily.
“Since the issue of Ebola came up in June, there have been about 44,000 flights in and out of Nigeria. So it’s because of what the Ministry of Health, the task force and all the agencies have been doing. All hands have been on deck,” he said.
He noted that the woman showed no symptoms on arrival and that they appeared four days after she got into Abuja.
“It was the identification process and the protocols that were put in place that enabled the quick identification. That also speaks to the country’s capacity and ability to deal with this disease as best as we can,” said the former lawmaker.
Gbajabiamila said the task force would strengthen whatever needed strengthening, including the protocols, and enforce them more rigorously.
According to him, “The Task Force is on top of it. NCDC is on top of it; everyone is on deck. We must build community trust and avoid panic, but it’s also important to state clearly that this is a collaborative effort between the government and the people.”
He appealed to Nigerians to comply with directives for the good of all. The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, said the country had competent health authorities, including private hospitals, the immigration, aviation and interior agencies and subnational governments, which had put surveillance systems in place.
Pate said, “We have been conducting contact tracing diligently and isolating those contacts of the index imported case in this country. We will continue to do that. Most of our states have adequate response plans. We have the resources, and we’re mobilising those capabilities. And we’re also confident that if we continue on this path, we should be able to dent this outbreak.”
Pate revealed that the World Health Organisation, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control had activated the incident management system across the various pillars, and that hospital capabilities had also been activated.
He urged Nigerians to avoid spreading “baseless rumours, which can cause unnecessary panic”, and said the country’s public health physicians had “successfully tamed this virus in 2014”.
The meeting was attended by the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nandap; the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Bunmi Kuku; the WHO Representative, Pavel Ursu; and the Africa CDC’s Special Regional Representative, Dr Aliko Ahmed.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olajumoke Oduwole; the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi; and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s Captain Donald Spiff joined by Zoom.
Pate announced on Tuesday that a laboratory had confirmed Ebola in a woman who recently returned from Uganda, Voice of Nigeria reported.
It said her symptoms began on October 7 and she sought care at a private hospital in Abuja on October 11, with laboratory confirmation coming on October 20.
The Federal Government said it is monitoring 44 contacts.
On June 9, President Bola Tinubu set up a task force chaired by Gbajabiamila and approved N10bn for emergency preparedness.
Part of its measures include tougher screening at airports, QR-code health declarations for passengers from high-risk countries and isolation centres at the Lagos and Abuja airports.
At its inauguration on June 18, Gbajabiamila said there were no cases in the country and that Nigeria did not want “a repeat of what happened during the last outbreak when a carrier entered the country”.