Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Muhammed Ali Pate, has called on Nigerians not to panic over the outbreak of Ebola in the country.
He said that the Federal Government has what it takes to contain the spread of the disease.
Pate gave the assurance at the Presidential Villa after meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Wednesday.
The minister said the federal government is collaborating with Uganda to manage the situation.
“All I can tell you is that we are collaborating with our sister African nation of Uganda,” Pate said.
“What is important is that we have found this one case. We are doing contact tracing, and we are putting containment measures to ensure that it doesn’t go into our population.”
He urged Nigerians to remain calm and communicate responsibly, adding that the situation should be taken seriously without causing fear.
“Nigerians should be reassured. We must be vigilant, but not panic, and people should respect public health information from trusted sources, and not spread misinformation and false rumours,” Pate said.
The minister said Nigeria has the public health institutions and expertise needed to respond to the situation.
Pate added that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) had activated its incident management system (IMS), with response teams working round the clock and the relevant task force coordinating containment efforts.
“They are working 24/7, and the task force is also active. So, we have things in place that give us confidence that Nigeria can weather this public health crisis,” he said.
He said the government would continue to monitor developments and provide updates as verified information became available.
“If the situation changes, we’ll come out and inform Nigerians,” he said.
Pate reiterated that the immediate priority was to contain the imported case and prevent its spread within the population.
The meeting between Pate and Gbajabiamila came nearly 24 hours after the federal government announced a confirmed case of Ebola disease in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
On Tuesday, Pate said 44 close contacts had been identified for tracing to prevent further transmission.
He added that the patient, a woman who recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda, had been admitted to a private hospital in the FCT, where she received care for several days before the diagnosis was confirmed.
