President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Wednesday in
Abuja condemned the stigmatization of Nigerians by
some countries over recent cases of the Ebola Virus
Disease in the country.
Speaking at a meeting with Mr. David Navarro, a
Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-
General, President Jonathan particularly denounced
discriminatory actions such as that which forced
Nigeria's team to the Youth Olympics in China to
abandon its participation.
Noting that there was no justification for such
stigmatization of Nigerians since the Ebola Virus
Disease had been effectively contained in the country
and never attained epidemic levels, the President
called for the cessation of discriminatory actions
against Nigerians over the virus and urged the UN
Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon to support the
call.
Responding to the Secretary General's
commendation of Nigeria's management of the
threat of Ebola, President Jonathan praised the
Federal Ministry of Health, the Lagos State
Government and all Nigerians for the success
achieved so far in containing the virus and avoiding
a national epidemic.
"All hands have been on deck to contain the virus
here. I commend my team and the Lagos State
Government. We have been able to set politics aside
and work in unison to deal with a national threat.
"All other Nigerians have played a part too by
complying with the directives and advice we have
issued to stop the virus from spreading any further.
The success we have had is a testimony to what we
can achieve as people if we set aside our differences
and work together," he told Mr. Navarro.
The President assured the Special Envoy that in spite
of the seeming success of its containment measures,
the Federal Government and its agencies will remain
vigilant to guard against further cases of Ebola in the
country.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and we
will also support other affected African countries as
much as we can because we cannot be completely
safe from the virus as long as it continues to ravage
some countries in our sub-region and continent. We
will continue to work with the international
community to curb the outbreak in other countries,"
President Jonathan pledged.
Mr. Navarro who had visited Liberia, Guinea and
Sierra Leone, the countries worst hit by Ebola before
coming to Nigeria, told the President that he had
come, on the instruction of the UN Secretary-
General, to applaud Nigeria's successful containment
of the virus.
"The Secretary-General asked me to come here too,
not because you have an Ebola problem, but because
you have tackled it in an exemplary fashion.
"Your personal leadership on the matter has been
key. There may still be some work to be done before
the virus is completely cleared out from here, but
other countries can learn from your fine example,"
Mr. Navarro told the President.
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
August 27, 2014
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in comments are
those of the comment writers alone and does not
reflect or represent the views of Somayina.
No comments:
Post a Comment