First, we can confirm authoritatively
now that Mr Patrick Sawyer did come
to Nigeria knowing full well he had
contacted the Ebola disease. He came
here looking for a cure. His widow in
New York attested to that much. Mr
Sawyer wasn’t alone. Another
diplomat sneaked through the border
and sought cure for the same disease
in Port Harcourt.
Furthermore, there were news
reports of a few Ebola-stricken West
African nationals who tried to cross
into Nigeria through the Niger and
through some South-South borders.
They were all turned back. Also, three
travellers suspected to be Ebola-
infected were apprehended after they
crossed into Ogun State through the
Imeko-Afon border.
Why did all these people come, and
wanted to get into Nigeria? They were
practically invited to come by the now
former Minister for Information,
Labaran Maku.
On Wednesday April 2, 2014, Jonathan
was away in Brussels. In his place,
Vice President Sambo chaired the
weekly Federal Executive Council
meeting in Abuja. Immediately after
this meeting, while briefing
journalists on its outcome, Maku
reportedly declared to the world that
Nigeria has Ebola virus disease
vaccines.
Specifically, Maku said: “Nigeria is
prepared right now to curtail any
outbreak particularly given reports
that few counties on the West Coast
like Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea
have reported cases of Ebola fever
and given our proximity to these,
Nigeria is ready. The ministry has
taken every precaution, including
getting vaccines and medicines to
ensure that should there be any
incidence in Nigeria, everything would
be dealt with precision.”
The man wasn’t done. He added: “So
far, there is nothing like Ebola fever
in Nigeria, and Council was reassured
that every step has been taken to
ready our country just in case
infected persons come into the
country from our neighbouring
countries.”
This was the same briefing where the
re-basing of our economy was
mentioned for the first time and
perhaps that over-shadowed the titbit
about us having Ebola vaccines. So
while most Nigerians heard
‘Rebasing,’ our Ebola-stricken
neighbours heard ‘Vaccines.’
I suppose Mr Maku could be reasonably
excused on the basis that he was
perhaps just passing on information
he received from the Health Ministry.
However, he could have checked and
confirmed his facts before making
categorical statements. Giving
Nigeria’s pre-eminence in the
continent, why would other Africans
not take Maku’s statement seriously?
Even as late as July 25th, few days
after Sawyer escaped into Nigeria,
the Project Director of the Nigerian
Centre for Disease Control, one
Professor Abdulsalam Nasidi, chipped-
in: “…We have mobilised rapid
response teams in addition to
developing a detailed response plan
that includes a comprehensive health
education, health promotion to
sensitise Nigerians, enhanced
surveillance to detect and treat the
disease.”
What’s a desperate African citizen to
do on the back of such reassuring
statements? Same thing is happening
to America now. A few people with
Ebola have flown into that country
since the USA was able to successfully
cure a couple of people with the Ebola
virus.
It is painful that some people have
had to lose their lives as a result of
Sawyer’s and other’s actions, but we
must put things in their proper
perspective. People in offices of high
responsibility must be more discerning
and more sensitive when it comes to
matters of life and death. There are
times to grandstand and there are
other times to be serious.
So when Jonathan described Patrick
Sawyer as “crazy” and a “mad
man,” perhaps, he ought to have been
looking elsewhere.
But, thank heavens we pulled through
and we have excelled – albeit at a
price. We only need now to worry
about people coming home for
Christmas from Ebola-infested
countries.
However, what our experience with the
successful containment of the Ebola
disease has shown is that Nigeria has
the material and human resources to
be a truly great nation if only we have
the will, the commitment, and the
right leadership. We can even
straighten out our healthcare sector
such that the president won’t have to
jet into Germany so much for his
healthcare needs.
*Mr Michael Egbejumi-David, a
commentator on national issues,
wrote from Lagos

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/ebola-disease-got-nigeria/

Nice write-up.but all i care about is that Nigeria is now free from ebola.thanks to God and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice