Ebola: 2 Nigerians Confirmed
Positive In Sierra Leone –
Minister
By Winifred Ogbebo and Victor Okeke
— Nov 6, 2014 | 5 Comments
The minister of state for health, Dr
Khaliru Alhassan, has disclosed that
health officials in Sierra Leone have
officially informed the ministry that two
Nigerians resident in Freetown have
been diagnosed with Ebola Virus
Disease (EVD).
He said that one of the Nigerians is a
27-year-old indigene of Abia State,
while the other is a 22-year-old
indigene of Edo State.
The minister, who made this disclosure
in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, when he briefed the
press on EVD at the just-concluded
National Council on Health Meeting,
said that details of the two cases will be
made available when full investigation
of their status is concluded.
He stressed that from the information
available to the ministry, both Nigerians
received treatment in isolation centres in
Freetown, Sierra Leone, adding that one
of them has been successfully treated
and is technically cured, and has
returned to Nigeria.
Dr Alhassan said although the nation’s
borders will continue to remain open for
the free movement of people and goods
within the region, government will
continue to strengthen and sustain
proactive vigilance and surveillance at
all its borders – air, sea and land.
Against this backdrop, the minister
appealed to the countries already
infected to strengthen their surveillance
and quarantine network to minimise
escape from such networks by people
already put under surveillance to other
non-infected countries.
He noted that the recent declaration of
Nigeria as an Ebola-free nation on
Monday, the 20th of October, 2014
connotes that Nigeria’s strategies to
fight the outbreak had worked and that
Nigeria is now not to be listed among
countries infected by the deadly virus
any longer, adding that henceforth, no
country will stigmatise any Nigerian as
someone coming to contaminate their
people.
He ascribed Nigeria’s success in
containing the Ebola disease to
responsive governance driven by
appropriate political will, a clear
leadership role, and strong multi-
sectoral teamwork.
The minister informed the journalists
that Nigeria has already mobilised and
trained over 600 health workers as
volunteers to support the containment
effort in affected countries within the
West African sub-region under the
leadership of ECOWAS.
He noted that Nigeria’s president had
donated $3.5million towards the Ebola
scourge in the sub-region.
He also disclosed that at the request of
the government of Sierra Leone, Nigeria
made a donation of drugs a
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