Ebola: Senate Wants FG To Immortalise Adadevoh, Others
BEVERLY HILLS, September 17, (THEWILL) - The Senate on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to immortalise Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh and other heroes and heroines in the fight against Ebola.
In particular, the lawmakers demanded the immortalisation of those who lost their lives in their service to the fatherland and humanity
However, they commended President Goodluck Jonathan for the leadership provided and the prompt response in tackling the spread of the Ebola disease in Nigeria
Nonetheless, moves to compel the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to resume schools next week suffered a setback as the Senate unanimously rebuffed such call.
It could be recalled that the NUT had threatened to embark on strike over the proposed move to open primary and secondary schools across the country on September 22.
The Nigerian Medical Association ( NMA) had initially expressed reservation over the resumption date by the federal government
The Senate also urged the Federal Government to strengthen Port Health services to in all ports of entry and urged all Nigerians to cooperate with health officials and observe preventive measures as prescribed in order to reduce the risk of infection and spread of the Ebola Virus Diseae
In the same vein, it urged both the ECOWAS and African Union to create regional and continent wide containment programmes, saying if the stories we are hearing from Liberia and Siera Leone are correct, we still need containment measure that are region wide. The resolutions were sequel to the motion sponsored by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa with 106 senators titled The Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria
Senator Okowa also expressed concern that in the last one week, a number of EVD rumours have been carried and that all cases have however turned out to be Ebola negative and specifically, the rumours in Kebbi, Kaduna, Oyo, Ebonyi,Delta and Sokoto States have now been debunked;
Senator Ben Ayade in his submission called for cremation of bodies to further stem the spread of the disease and recommended the possibility of accepting cremation as a lifestyle
Senator Joshua Lindani while commending the Federal Government lamented that if the government had used the same response to tackle Boko Haram maybe by now, the insurgency would have been history.
Closing the debate, Senate President David Mark warned that schools should put precautionary measures in place before the resumption to help prevent the Ebola virus.
According to him,”There are debates going on whether schools should resume or not. The private schools and government schools also should make sure that they take precautionary measures before we get all our children back to school
“But I think that we have done enough but with a little more efforts the schools should be allowed to resume and making sure that when they resume we don't let down our guards, it is not over yet, but I believe that we have done enough to avoid any further spread of the Ebola virus disease.”
Senator Mark also commended the late Dr. Adadevoh for her bravery and commended the efforts of the Federal Government so far, noting that the emergency brought the country together.
According to him: “The epidemic goes to show that if we are determined and if we mean it, we can rise up to any occasion in this country and it is a good lesson for all of us. Individually, people were dedicated, they put in their best and collectively we were able to work together to stem further spread of the epidemic. There are lessons that have come out and I hope that we have taken them on.
“Environmental sanitation is very important, personal hygiene is very crucial and communities must get together whether they are schools or colleges or universities or small communities and be able to organise themselves in such a way that with little assistance from government, they can avoid the spread the Ebola epidemic and indeed any other epidemic.
“Furthermore I think we can't thank Dr. Adadevoh enough because she went out of her way beyond anybody's expectation to control Patrick Sawyer who would have otherwise done havoc much more beyond our imagination and I think the nation will do well to honour her and indeed other workers in the health industry who sacrificed their personal lives just to make sure that most of us are alive, your contributions have been very exciting.
“We certainly need to commend the Federal Government because they have done a lot .The Federal Government did a lot to ensure that we don't allow this to spread beyond what we have seen. And I agree entirely with you that the way we carry on is as if everybody in this country now is infected with Ebola, we should give ourselves the kudos for doing well and not paint us black before the eyes of the world.”
EMMA UCHE, ABUJA