Coronavirus: Nigerian Senate Urges Allocation Of More Funds To NCDC

The Nigerian Senate, on Thursday, urged the federal government to allocate more funds to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to enable the agency equip its laboratories with state of the art machines for proper research and diagnosis of tropical diseases.

The senate made the call against the backdrop of the outbreak of Coronavirus in Wuhan, China, and the rapid spread of the deadly virus to the United States, Canada, Japan, among others, as well as a suspected case in the West African country, Côte d’Ivoire.

As of Thursday, the death toll from the Coronavirus outbreak had risen to 170.

Senator Chukwuka Utazi, representing Enugu North senatorial district, had cited orders 42 and 52 in moving a motion on the Coronavirus outbreak and urged the government to take preemptive measures to stem its spread to Nigeria.

In his contribution, Senator James Manager, representing Delta South senatorial district, said: “This virus is like another Ebola. The health ministry is doing well, and I want to urge them to do better. The Chinese are everywhere, and this virus is a deadly disease.”

The senate commended the Ministry of Health and the NCDC for their efforts so far in raising awareness aimed at stemming the Coronavirus infection in the country.

The upper chamber urged the ministry and the agency to not lower their guards until the outbreak vanishes.

The Senate subsequently resolved to: “Urge the Federal Government to allocate more funds to the NCDC, to acquire the latest and most recent equipment that there is for research and diagnosis of tropical diseases that threaten human existence as prevention is always better and cheaper than cure;

 “Urge Nigerian traveling public desirous of traveling to Asia, especially China, to heed to the Federal Government travel advisory on China & put their travel arrangements on hold till further notice & until this outbreak of Coronavirus is vanquished from the face of the earth;

 “Urge the Federal Ministries of Aviation to ensure that all persons arriving from China, especially the Chinese citizens from Nigeria that travelled home for the Chinese Lunar New Year festivities, or from any country that has a major disease outbreak, to self-isolate by staying indoors in their homes for at least two weeks before mixing up with the Nigerian public;

“Urge Nigerians with any reported case(s) of likely infection or with symptoms that approximate to those associated with Coronavirus to visit the hospitals for urgent health check.”

The upper legislative chamber further urged the citizens to ensure to keep their environments clean and “wash their hands with soap, with clean water, preferably from a running tap.”