Private school owners
in Lagos State and the
Federal Government
may clash over the
latter’s order directing
all primary and
secondary schools in
the country to resume on October 13, 2014, instead of the
anticipated September 15.
The school owners, under the umbrella of the National
Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, believe that
the directive is unnecessary and should not be considered
as part of the measures to prevent the spread of Ebola virus
in the country.
They expressed their feeling at a sensitisation programme
on Ebola held on Thursday at Victory Grammar School,
Ikeja, Lagos.
The Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, had
announced the resumption date after a meeting with the 36
state commissioners of education on Tuesday in Abuja
But speaking at the sensitisation programme, the Lagos
State President of the National Association of Proprietors of
Private Schools, Mr. Yomi Otubela, said, “We have sent our
appeal to the Federal Government through the Lagos State
Special Adviser on Public Health informing it that if religious
organisations and other places are left open, these children
could as well contract the virus there.
“If markets that have more crowd than what we have in
schools are not asked to close down, then we wonder why
the government will not allow us put preventive measures in
place and allow these children return to school. School is
supposed to be a place of knowledge and we are to educate
and expose them to the knowledge on what they need to
know to prevent the spread of the virus, not keeping them
out of schools and keeping them ignorant of what is
happening.”
But the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Government on
Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, disagreed with the
school owners, asking them to abide by the Federal
Government’s directive.
She also asked them not to place priority on their financial
wellbeing over the physical wellbeing of the school children.
The founder of Supreme Educational Foundation Schools,
Mrs. Adenike Adamolekun, also said the directive by the
Federal Government was senseless.
She said, “Just as we are praising the Federal Government
for being proactive in containing the Ebola virus, we are also
condemning them on this one. It does not make sense at all.
Even if they had any doubt, what they needed to have done
was to have put together some precautions and extend it to
all schools, ensuring that all schools abide by them.
“Shutting the schools for a whole month, considering the fact
they will be shut down next year again because of elections,
is a bad idea. Moreover, parents do not know what to do
with those kids. I think this is an unnecessary approach to
the issue.”
A school proprietress, Dr. Maggie Ibru, stated that what the
Federal Government could have done was to provide hand
sanitisers in all private and public schools in the country.
She said it was in the capability of the Federal Government
to provide hand sanitisers and increase the level of
sanitisation in all schools in the country.
She said, “No, the Federal Government got it wrong on this
one because this will not stop the students from
participating in international examinations. What the
government should have done is to supply all schools with
hand sanitisers, both private and public, because who
attend the private schools too are Nigerians.
“They should allow the children to go back to school. What to
do is simple: the Federal Government could have increased
the sensitisation level on Ebola prevention in our schools
and if possible, give a directive to all schools not to allow
guests enter their premises, or rather mandate every child
and visitor be subjected to a test before entering the school
premises. These are the measures that the Federal
Government should have taken.”
Meanwhile, inadequate test and treatment centres for the
Ebola Virus Disease has been identified as one of the
greatest challenges threatening the government’s efforts to
contain the spread of the deadly virus.
Though four test centres have been set up in the Lagos
University Teaching Hospital; Centre for Disease Control in
Asokoro, Abuja; University College Hospital, Ibadan; and the
Redeemers University Laboratory, Kilometer 35 Lagos-
Ibadan Expressway, doctors, who spoke with Saturday
PUNCH, flayed the government over what they called
inadequate test and treatment centres in the country.
They said that adequate test and treatment centres are very
important to the management of Ebola outbreak among
other measures such as sufficient isolation facilities and
protective kits for medical personnel.
According to them, it is unheard of for a country of over 160
million people to rely on four test centres at a time it is
faced with a deadly disease that has, in the World Health
Organisation’s estimation, killed 1,552 people in West Africa.
The Ebola Virus Disease was on July 24, 2014 imported to
Nigeria by a 40-year-old Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer.
Shortly after Sawyer died of the disease on his arrival in
Lagos, the Federal Government quickly rose to prevent the
spread of the virus by putting in place many measures such
as banning inter-state movement of corpses. It also
promised to establish nine more test centres across the
nation by September.
The Minster of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, had also
announced the plans to send mobile laboratories to Enugu
and Plateau states for the diagnosis of the virus following
fears that some people might have contracted the disease in
the two states.
President Goodluck Jonathan had equally announced the
release of N1.9bn Special Intervention Fund for the
management of Ebola.
The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr.
Reuban Abati, had explained that the N1.9bn Ebola Fund
would be used “to further strengthen on-going steps to
contain the virus such as the establishment of additional
isolation centres, case management, contact tracing,
deployment of additional personnel, screening at borders,
and the procurement of required items and facilities.”
In spite of these measures, a virologist, Dr. Akinjogunla
Olajide, said the four testing centres for Ebola virus were not
enough for the country with a population of over 160 million
people.
He said each of the 36 states of the federation should have
at least a test centre to handle emergency related to the
outbreak of a deadly virus such as Ebola.
Olajide said the need for each state to have its test centre
became necessary because of the difficulty that would be
involved in transporting the sample of a suspected Ebola
patient from a place like Cross River State to Lagos State as a
result of the distance between the two states.
The virologist also said that the four test centres currently
available in the country lacked necessary facilities.
Olajide said, “Containing the spread of Ebola virus requires
specially trained personnel. The four centres we have in
Nigeria today may boast of qualified personnel, but the
major challenge that may hinder their effectiveness is
inadequate facilities.”
He expressed the fear that there may be an outbreak of the
Ebola disease in Port Harcourt in the next few days following
the death in Port Harcourt of a doctor who treated a
diplomat who contracted Ebola from Sawyer, the index case.
According to him, the victim must have interacted with many
people before he succumbed to the disease.
Chukwu, the Health Minister had on Wednesday confirmed
that the diplomat had contracted the virus, and that the
Ebola virus was responsible for killing the late doctor.
He said, “A man who works for ECOWAS, a primary contact
of the index case, evaded surveillance and travelled to Port
Harcourt. He became ill and he went to a hospital in Port
Harcourt for treatment.
“Although he recovered, the doctor who treated him died
last week. The widow of the doctor alerted us and we
investigated the case. It is now confirmed that the doctor
died of Ebola. His widow has been put under quarantine.
“The ECOWAS staff member is also under quarantine. There
is evidence that he had the virus but might have recovered.
We cannot rule out the option that he still has the virus.”
The minister said 70 people were under surveillance in Port
Harcourt.
The latest development brings the total number of Ebola
cases in Nigeria to 15 from the 13 announced by the health
minister on Monday.
The President, Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Kayode
Obembe, also believes that the four centres are not enough
for the country with its huge population. He said that the
centres were poorly equipped.
According to him, each state of the federation should have
at least a test centre for effective prevention of the spread of
the Ebola virus.
Obembe, who claimed that the Federal Government has the
capacity to contain the spread of the Ebola virus, however,
urged it to embark on rigorous training and re-training of
health workers and volunteers involved in managing the
centres.
Another medical practitioner, Dr. Rotimi Adesanya, said the
treatment of the Ebola disease involves a lot of financial
resources, special training, kits and handling of the facilities,
which may be the reason the government could not dabble
into making the facility available at every nook and cranny
of the country. He said, “If the government makes it
available everywhere, it may expose the populace to the
disease, but the government can at least have equipped
treatment centres that have the capacity of combating the
disease. However, the focus should be more on treatment
centres, not testing centres, and the truth is that we don’t
have adequate treatment centres across the country.
“However, I think every state should have about three
treatment centres, which could be one per senatorial zone
and about one or two testing centres in each state, because
doing the test everywhere may lead to spreading the virus
due to misplacement or any other thing.
Copyright PUNCH.All rights reserved.
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