Sequel to the pronounciation of Nigeria as Ebola free nation by World Health Organization,The World Health Organization (WHO), on Monday, October 20, declared Nigeria free of the deadly Ebola virus after
six weeks with no new cases. The announcement portrayed Nigeria and its officials as being proactive to the killer disease with much resistance and public service announcement from the government and civil organizations to the public, educating and informing them on measures to nip the virus in the bud.
I must first of all commend the federal Govt. of Nigeria ably led by Goodluck Jonathan for the proactive measures taken to control the spread of this dreaded disease,this is the 1st time am seeing Nigeria Govt. rising to its responsibility.I commend also all other sectors that contributed their quota in the fight(like financial,education and health sectors).Many people see Ebola Virus Disease(EVD) in Nigeria as a curse,but I see it as a blessing in disguise.Why do I see this killer disease that have cost this Nation a huge sum of money and lives as a blessing,my reasons are as follows.
1. It will make Nigeria to consider prevention next time other than control. Knowing too well that we were at risk of recording outbreak of this dreaded virus considering the proximity of other countries being ravaged by the disease,had Nigeria taken appropriate measures to prevent outbreak,we wouldn't have recorded the index case.
2. It will help to control the loquacious nature of our Govt. The minister of information(Labara Maku) had on April 2,2014 after weekly federal executive council meeting told Nigerians that the country was prepared for any emergency in case the virus creeps into Nigeria and that we have procured vaccine for Ebola.Based on this information released by Maku,Sawyer(the Liberian that brought the virus) believed that Nigeria have a cure for Ebola,so he came down to Nigeria in order to seek for better medical health care.
3. Having recorded a giant strive in management of EVD,Nigeria is in better position to produce antiserum for Ebola victims.
Yes EVD must have come and gone in Nigeria but some certain things still remain undone.After the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria,we recorded approximately 62% survivors which is a good result going by the history of mortality rate in previous outbreak in other countries.Now that we have survivors,that means they have antibody that can tackle and kill Ebola in other patients.So in the absence of any approved vaccine or cure for Ebola,Nigeria can now exploit this and use survivors to produce serum that can be used to treat patients suffering from Ebola virus disease in other countries,by so doing Nigeria will be given an applaud by the rest of the world,and also for once Nigeria will be depended upon by other countries and not otherwise as the case have been previously.President Goodluck Jonathan and the minister of health to mandate the Ebola committee that have already been set during the outbreak to work in this direction so that Nigeria once again will be included in the committee of nations where good thing can come out.