Nigerian government urged to be proactive concerning spread of Ebola virus

The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Health, to take proactive measures to ensure that the deadly Ebola virus disease did not spread to Nigeria.



The House equally mandated its committees on Health and Disaster Preparedness to immediately monitor the Ministry of Health on the steps taken to prevent the virus from entering Nigeria.


The House resolution on the matter was sequel to a motion moved by Honourable Kingsley Chinda entitled: "Urgent need to check the spread of the deadly Ebola virus disease in Nigeria."

But not long after, Honourable Chinda moved the motion when a member of the House, Honourable Friday Itulah, kicked against it, saying "the motion was in bad light because when Ebola broke out, the Federal Government did put preventive measures in place.

"The impression this motion is creating is that the Federal Government is not doing its work and we are aware that government has done well in the right direction. Our committees, particularly that of Health, are aware of government landmarks in this area," he maintained.

But he was ruled out by the Speaker, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, who asked the mover of the motion to continue with his motion.

Continuing, Honourable Chinda said the cause of Ebola virus had been traced to unsafe burial practices in West Africa, saying that, "it will be most appropriate if we start putting measures in place to avoid the most dreaded disease in the world from entering our country since it has ravaged Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali Ivory Coast and others."

Refugee Camps
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives, also called on the Federal Government to provide secured refugee camps for about 6 million internally-displaced persons affected by Boko Haram insurgency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

To this end, the House called on both the Border Area Development Commission and the National Refugee Commission to establish befitting refugee camps for the affected people.

The resolution of the House was sequel to a motion of urgent public importance moved by Honourable Abdulrahman Terab, entitled: "urgent need to establish a refugee camp for internally-displaced persons in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states."

The lawmakers, while moving his motion, stated that "recently, the United Nations Office in Nigeria, put a figure of 6 million people who are directly affected by the crises in the three states."