The federal government on Thursday in Abuja urged the opposition party to desist from politicising the fight against the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country.
The call came on the heels of an earlier statement by the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing as ‘uncharitable’ the government’s move to “pretend as if governments of the two affected states (Lagos and Rivers) did nothing” in containing the Ebola virus.
Speaking at a high level experts meeting on Ebola virus in Abuja, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said there is no need to play politics with efforts to completely rid Nigeria of the disease.
Chukwu told journalists that he was “not going to speak for the PDP because the party had its own official spokesperson. You said it is an opposition party; so they will talk at their level.
“But, I have said as Minister of Health, I am not playing politics. And, Mr. President who is leading this fight has taken personal leadership, he is one of the greatest leaders Nigeria has ever had” the minister maintained.
He explained that given the collective efforts of all the stakeholders, there should be no room for politics, and that sentiments should be set aside.
“I will say it any day because it is evidence-based. It is not politics,” Chukwu told journalists.
“Certainly, we have tried to avoid politics. Some people, I don’t know where they are coming from, have tried to draw us into politics. We cannot be in this matter and play politics.
“I have already said they are commending the President. I have also said they are commending the state governments that have helped us this far. The governors of these three states, Lagos, Enugu and Rivers together with their commissioners, you can see the commissioner in Rivers State is even here. You can see that Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Health is here because they are medical doctors, they refused to play politics. So, we are not playing politics,” the minister submitted.
Highlighting efforts to produce vaccines, Chukwu stated: “President Jonathan is working hard. He has directed me and I am working with some groups. Nigeria, very soon, may be in the next one year, we will start producing some vaccines in this country. Vaccines are important. Any disease that has a vaccine, it is as good as eradicating it. Vaccine is the ultimate; it is better than any drug.
“But, of course, it takes time, it takes some research to produce. And, right now, we have a number of candidate vaccines. Nigeria was among those countries; I personally wrote the letter that Nigeria was willing, after I had been advised by the Treatment Research Group, NAFDAC and National Health Research Ethics Committee, these three groups established in this country advised the Minister of Health that Nigeria will be willing to be part of this.” – Thisday.
