…as country faces heightened risk of Ebola importation
Amobi Ogah, Member, representing Isiukwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, has raised alarm over Nigeria’s Ebola preparedness and demanded urgent funding for the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Ogah made the call during plenary, through a motion of urgent national importance presented before the House of Representatives, where he warned that Nigeria currently faces a heightened risk of Ebola importation following the recent outbreak of the deadly virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The lawmaker’s intervention has already generated reactions within public health circles and among concerned Nigerians, especially as fears continue to grow over the country’s preparedness to tackle another major epidemic.
According to Ogah, the recent Ebola outbreak in the Ituri Province of the DRC, caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, poses a serious danger to Nigeria because of the nation’s porous borders and weak cross-border surveillance systems.
