President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to
teachers to shelve any plan for an industrial
action over Ebola scare, as he sought to dispel
concerns on the status of the deadly virus in
Nigeria.

The president said Nigeria has contained the
virus, and that the government’s alertness
would ensure no Nigerian contracts the virus if
Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American who
brought Ebola to Nigeria, had arrived the
country today.

“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 a few
people we are observing,” he said.
The President, however, noted that in spite of
the efficient management of the disease in
Nigeria, there may still be a reoccurrence as the
disease was still being battled in other West
African countries such as Guinea, Liberia and
Sierra Leone.

“The likelihood that characters like the late
(Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American who
brought the disease to Nigeria) can come in
one way or the other is also open. But
government is also very mindful of that.
Presently, our airports are properly protected. If
Sawyer were to arrive Nigeria now, no Nigerian
would have contracted Ebola because of the
level of preparation,” Mr. Jonathan assured.
The president appealed to members of the
National Union of Teachers, NUT, to shelve any
plans of embarking on an industrial action over
the September 22 school resumption date.
Following the decision by the Federal
Government to move its earlier fixed date of
resumption of schools from October 13 to
September 22, the NUT on Tuesday in Abuja,
directed all its members nationwide to stay
away from schools until when convinced
“beyond reasonable doubt” that the
government had provided all preventive and
protective gadgets such as infra-red
thermometers, sanitizers, running water, gloves
and adequate training for teachers.


The union also kicked against the September
22 resumption date for primary and secondary
schools, stating that the government was yet to
put the necessary equipment in schools to
prevent the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease,
EVD.


The National President of the union, Michael
Olukoya, pointed out that only a few states had
trained teachers on the EVD.


However, speaking with journalists at the
Presidential Villa Abuja, the President Jonathan
noted that there was no longer cause for alarm
as Nigeria was now almost free of the disease
and well prepared to stem any new cases that
may emerge.


“I will plead with NUT and other unions that this
does not require industrial action. They should
commend government. They worked with us,
they are 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.

He explained that the schools staying closed
would lead to the continued stigmatisation of
Nigerian citizens abroad as this sent out the
wrong signals.

“lf you are in Nigeria today 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 proof 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 Nigerians close all our public
institutions because of Ebola, the dispatches
that goes 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. We have been able to manage
Ebola and the whole world is happy with us and
we must tell the whole world that we have
managed Ebola and no Nigerian should
segregated because of Ebola,” he insisted.
The president used the opportunity to
congratulate Nigerians for their cooperation in
the management of the EVD.

“This is one thing that the whole country came
together and worked together on. There was no
issue of politics, there was no issue of religion,
there was no issues of ethnicity. In fact that
was why we were able to contain them. If the
Nigerians did not agree we wouldn’t have
succeeded.
“I use this opportunity to thank all the
governors because I met with all the governors
and all the commissioners for health and all the
states set up machineries to manage the Ebola
if at all it turned up. I have to specifically
appreciate the governors of Lagos and Rivers
State that had incidence of Ebola and how they
worked with federal government to manage the
situation” he said

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