There is no Ebola in Nigeria now -Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has declared Nigeria free of the Ebola Virus Disease. Addressing State House journalists in Abuja this evening, the president said nobody has Ebola in the country at the moment. He said all those who hitherto had the symptoms of the virus had recovered. Jonathan, however, noted that the possibility of witnessing the […]

President Goodluck Jonathan has declared Nigeria free of the Ebola Virus Disease.

Addressing State House journalists in Abuja this evening, the president said nobody has Ebola in the country at the moment.

He said all those who hitherto had the symptoms of the virus had recovered.

Jonathan, however, noted that the possibility of witnessing the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria again could not be ruled out so long it continued to ravage Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

He said the likelihood that someone like Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer who imported the virus to Nigeria in July could also not be foreclosed.

“Presently, there is no case of Ebola in Nigeria. Nobody in Nigeria has Ebola now. All the people that had the symptoms of Ebola have recovered. Out of 19, we lost seven and the others have recovered. Yes, there are few people we are observing.
That is not say we may not record Ebola again as long as Ebola is still in the West Coast, it is there in Guinea Conakry, it is there in Liberia, it is there in Sierra Leone. The likelihood that the character like the Late Sawyer can come in one way or the other is also open”, he said.

The president said mindful of these possibilities, his government had so properly protected the nation’s airports that “if Sawyer were to arrive Nigeria now, no Nigerian would have contracted Ebola because of the level of preparation…We are sure that even if one mad Sawyer comes again, nobody will contract Ebola. We’ve managed Ebola very well. The world is happy. We must tell the world that no Nigerian should be suspected of Ebola and that’s the position of government”.

Thanking all Nigerians for managing the virus, Jonathan affirmed that the entire country had come together in fighting the epidemic.

“This is one thing that the whole country came together, worked together. There was no issue of politics, there was no issue of religion, there was no issue of ethnicity. In fact, that was why we were able to contain it. If Nigerians did not agree, we wouldn’t have succeeded”, he said.

Jonathan also thanked all the governors, especially those of Lagos and Rivers States, for working with the federal government and setting up machinery to manage Ebola.

On the September 22 schools’ resumption date, Jonathan before the decision was taken, he did not allow governors to make any input at a recent meeting he held with them because he knew they would play politics with it.
The president said the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) had no reason to threaten strike over Ebola as the decision to reopen schools on September 22 was taken at a meeting with state governors.

According to him, if the government close institutions because of Ebola, foreign envoys in Nigeria would send dispatches to their countries about it and that could aggravate the stigmatization against Nigerians going there.

He pleaded with the NUT and other unions to shelve plans to embark on strike, asking them to commend his government, work with it. “They’re Nigerians, all Nigerians must work together to make sure we contain Ebola. Why do we want to create problems while it is not necessary? It is uncalled for”.
“Is the NUT ‎saying that until the world is able to end Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone before Nigeria should open our institutions? It’s not right. Government is not a fool. No labour body asked us to take that decision, we took it because we felt we must protect our citizens. This is one government that discusses with anybody that has issues to discuss. Even NUT has no reason to threaten industrial action because of ebola. The governors took that decision. I called all the governors of the states to come with their commissioners of health.

“On the day of that meeting, I did not even allow them to speak because they would play politics. I asked all the commissioners including the Secretary of Health in Abuja to brief us ‎on the steps they’d taken and they listened to their colleagues because it was also a peer review process.
“One thing people don’t know is that today, if you’re a Nigerian and you travel to some countries, they don’t even want you to enter the countries. Our athletes were segregated in China, they had to return to the country. A place like China asked Ministers of the Federal Republic to show prove of Ebola free certificate. Very discouraging! And what people don’t know is that as long as you close your institutions because of Ebola, the ambassadors that are here with us and the high commissioners send what you call dispatches to their home states about what is happening in our country monthly.

“As long as we‎ close all our public institutions because of Ebola, the dispatch that’ll go to the whole world is that Ebola is a problem in Nigeria. And as long as we declare that Ebola is a problem in Nigeria, any Nigerian that travels out will be treated as someone that has Ebola.

“In fact, Osun State was to have their festival and the news came to me to cancel it. I said no, Ebola is no longer a threat in Nigeria and we must tell the world that we’ve been able to contained Ebola. Yes, Ebola is in the West Coast, it could happen in Ghana, Senegal or any of the West African countries or beyond, but they’ve not closed down their institutions. If we still have Ebola, definitely, we’ll not open any of our institutions, but we don’t have Ebola”.