Ebola: Senate urges schools to take precautionary measures

President of the Senate David Mark

The Senate on Wednesday urged all schools in Nigeria to take precautionary measures to contain the spread of the Ebola virus.

The Senate also appealed to the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States to create regional and continent wide containment programmes to avoid further spread of the deadly virus. The Senate made this appeal as part of resolutions reached after a debate on a motion, entitled, “The Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria,” sponsored by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and 106 others.

President of the Senate, David Mark, who presided over the session, said it was imperative for both public and private schools to put such measures in place as schools resume for academic activities.

Mark noted that while efforts so far put in place by the Federal Government was commendable; there was a need for all to join hands to take additional measures. Continue..

He said the dedication of Nigerians in the fight against Ebola, “only goes to show that if we are determined and if we mean it, we can rise up to any occasion in this country; and it is a good lesson for all of us.”

He also said, “Environmental sanitation is very important, personal hygiene is very crucial and communities must get together, whether they are schools or colleges or universities or small communities and be able to organise themselves in such a way that with little assistance from the government. They can avoid the spread the Ebola epidemic and indeed any other epidemic.”

The President of the Senate said Nigeria could not thank the late Dr. Stella Adadevoh enough for paying the ultimate price to save her motherland from what would have been an epidemic of unimaginable proportions.

According to him, the least Nigeria can do is to immortalise her and all the health workers who paid the ultimate price.

To the Lagos State Government, he said, “We certainly need to commend the Lagos State Government because they have done a lot, and the Federal Government who also did a lot to ensure that we don’t allow this to spread beyond what we have seen.”