The leadership of the Trade Union Congress has called on the Federal Government and stakeholders in the health sectors to intensify decisive actions to prevent the spread of the dreaded Ebola virus in Nigeria.
The President and Secretary General of the TUC, Messrs. Bala Kaigama and Musa Lawal respectively, said in a statement on Thursday that the government and the key actors of the health sectors must face the disturbing Ebola challenge decisively as it could be suicidal to the country.
The labour leaders said that it would be perilous for the government and the health sector to treat the threat of the possible spread of Ebola virus with indifference especially when the country was faced with the threats of insurgency that had claimed several lives with properties worth billions of Naira.
“The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria calls on the Federal Government, doctors and other health practitioners to take proactive measures towards nipping the Ebola disease in the bud.
“Our view is that it would be suicidal to take a nonchalant attitude to the disease especially at this time when the country is facing serious security challenges which have claimed thousands of lives, occasioned by the destruction of property worth billions of naira, increased the ranks of the unemployed, rendered thousands of people homeless and separated loved ones.” The statement read in part.
The TUC expressed concern that the Ebola incident occurred at a time the health sector was faced with an industrial crisis.
Kaigama and Lawal urged the Federal Government and the leadership of the Nigeria Medical Association to resolve the current industrial dispute in the interest of the citizenry.
The duo said that the disease could wreak an unimaginable extent of ‘socio economic damage and dislocation’ if the disease was allowed to spread.
The labour leaders called on the relevant government agencies to ensure effective coordination of a sustained campaign against the spread of Ebola.
They also urged effective equipment of hospitals and other health facilities with the requisite equipment to quarantine and attend to those infected.
The TUC leaders also called for the provision of platforms for effective information dissemination on the dreaded killer disease.
They called on the members of the executive and the legislature to give the deserved importance to the fight against the spread of the disease.
They added that the fight against the disease should be given the same degree of attention given to the process of re-election.
The unionists also urged the political class to be united in the fight against the spread of the disease irrespective of their political differences and to resist playing politics with the threat that could cost the country several lives.
They stressed that all Nigerians should be availed the opportunity of the information on the means of contracting the disease and its prevention.
“We are informed that the possible means of contracting the disease include contact with infected persons, bats or primates, undercooked infected “bush meat,” infected fluids, etc. We are also advised that the virus can be killed by washing with soap, bleach, sunlight, or drying/washing machine, etc.
“This message must be disseminated throughout the country to ensure that Nigerians who have survived the Boko Haram insurgence by God’s grace are not claimed by the Ebola disease.” They added.
They also called on the members of the Boko Haram to embrace peace and to stop the slaughter of innocent Nigerians.
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