By Emmanuel Enebeli
• TUC, NUT, others disagree
• WHO may okay Ebola vaccines in November
• 19th disease case was in Lagos not Rivers
• NAFDAC looks inwards for remedies
• Kano pupils to present evidence of medical clearance
Despite a protest by some stakeholders, the Federal Government will not review the September 22, 2014 it has fixed for schools to resume.
Indeed, the government said Wednesday that the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak was being effectively handled and that there was no scientific reason primary and secondary schools should not resume as scheduled.
While confirming the date, the Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, pleaded with Nigerians to allow the Federal Government to handle the EVD with its attendant issues.
The minister also said that the United States donated hand-held infrared, instead of the 30 scanners, which the U.S. ambassador actually announced to Nigerians last month in the wake of the EVD.
Briefing State House correspondents after giving an update on the EVD to the Federal Executive Council ( FEC), the minister said that there were 19 confirmed cases in Nigeria as at Wednesday. Fifteen of the figures were diagnosed in Lagos, while four were diagnosed in Port Harcourt.
According to him, contrary to reports in some sections of the media, there was no fresh case of the disease throughout this week, adding that the 19th case had been under investigation.
He said the number of cases treated in the facilities either in Lagos or Port Harcourt stood at 10. He said the last two cases were discharged this week.
“Just on Sunday, the sister of the Port Harcourt doctor, who had died from the EVD was discharged from the isolation ward in Rivers State. Just yesterday (Tuesday) the wife of that doctor was discharged from the isolation ward in Lagos.
“So what it means is that as at the moment, the two isolation centres that have been active in both Lagos and Rivers states are empty, as we do not have anybody that we are treating now actively for EVD.”
On the existence of contacts, Chukwu said the figure had fallen dramatically in Lagos. For instance, he said only 16 people were under surveillance in Lagos, while over 490 people were under surveillance in Port Harcourt. That means 338 persons have so far completed their observation in Lagos without problems. However, the story was not so cheery in Rivers. But he said 16 people there had already completed their surveillance.
Insisting on September 22 for the resumption of schools, he said: “First unlike other countries, there is no community transmission of the disease in Nigeria; not one yet. But we have taken precautions, what we are doing, we may as well have said everybody should just be moving about, but we are taking precautions. There is no scientific basis for school resumption to be postponed. There is no community transmission of the disease in Nigeria. That is what separates Nigeria from other countries. It is what I call irrational fear, we don’t need to be irrational about this.”
Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reassured the Federal Government that it had stepped up the global efforts for the discovery of vaccines for the cure of the deadly Ebola virus.
The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, who just returned from an WHO emergency meeting, yesterday, said: “There is a great promise that some drugs and vaccines could be found soon to contain the Ebola virus.
“According to the WHO, two potential vaccines against the deadly Ebola virus ravaging West Africa could be available as soon as November and would first be given to health care workers most at risk of exposure to the disease.
“The organisation also announced that blood from recovered Ebola patients and serums derived from that blood should be used to treat the sick, and it said treatment centres should quickly begin testing other experimental therapies to combat the viral disease.”
In a statement by his Director of Special Duties, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, Orhii said: “We have some Nigerian remedies that we are looking at very closely and after investigation we hope that they will be able to contain the Ebola virus. So, Nigerians do not need to panic.”
Orhii, however, warned Nigerians to be vigilant because some unscrupulous elements had started exploiting the Ebola virus scare to market counterfeit test kits and sanitary products.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Education, Mr. Aminu Suleiman, has stated that the uncertainty trailing the resumption of schools would be finally resolved next Monday.
He spoke Wednesday during a tour of facilities by House Committee on Education at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Lagos.
Expressing concern over the Ebola, the Ndigbo Cultural Society of Nigeria (NCSN) urged the Ministries of Health and Education to kindly reconsider postponing the resumption of schools to a time that the nation could confidently declare the country Ebola virus-free.
In Kano, the National Association of Private Schools Proprietors (NAPPs), has ordered that parents must present evidence of medical clearance of their children to schools’ authorities on resumption.
The President of the association, Dr. Jibril Muhammad, said that the decision was taken at the executive meeting of the group as a measure to curtail the spread of the Ebola virus among school children.
But the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) Wednesday opposed the September 22 resumption date.
In a statement by its President and Secretary General, Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Musa Lawal respectively, TUC called on the government to ignore pressure allegedly from private school owners.
Similarly, the NUT through its President, Mr. Michael Alogba, faulted the government’s decision to allow schools to resume on September 22, saying, “Students should not resume
