By Chesa Chesa
The Minister of Health, Ali Pate, has urged Nigerians not to panic following the detection of an imported case of Ebola in the country, assuring that the Federal Government has activated measures to contain the disease.
The minister, who spoke after a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the government was collaborating with Uganda and had commenced contact tracing to prevent further spread of the virus.
Pate was accompanied to the meeting by officials of the African Centre for Disease Control.
“All I can tell you is that we are collaborating with our sister African nation of Uganda. What is important is that we have found this one case. We are doing contact tracing, and we are putting containment measures to ensure that it doesn’t go into our population,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and rely on information from trusted public health authorities rather than spread misinformation and rumours.
“Nigerians should be reassured. We must be vigilant, but not panic, and people should respect public health information from trusted sources, and not spread misinformation and false rumours,” the minister said.
He expressed confidence in Nigeria’s capacity to contain the outbreak, citing the country’s public health institutions and experience in managing previous public health emergencies.
The minister said the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) had activated its incident management system, with personnel working round the clock alongside an active task force.
“They are working 24/7, and the task force is also active. So we have things in place that give us confidence that Nigeria can weather through this public health crisis,” he said.
He assured Nigerians that the government would provide regular updates based on information received from relevant authorities.
The minister added that further measures would be taken if the situation changed, reiterating that the detected case was imported and that containment efforts were underway.
“It’s one case. It’s an imported case, and we are containing it. And we will continue to take measures. If the situation changes, we’ll come out and inform Nigerians,” he said.
