In continuation of the efforts to prevent the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease into the country, a Federal and Lagos State Health delegation on Sunday visited the General Overseer of The Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua, to explore ways to ensure members of the congregation do not include residents or people from the affected countries. Continue....
Led by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, the delegation offered to work with the health team of the church in the areas of technical assistance, medical advice and training, to ensure that no victim of the deadly disease comes to the Church from any of the affected countries undetected.
In his opening remarks during the interaction, which took place at the premises of the Church, Idris said the delegation decided to pay the visit to the Church because of the recognition that the Church is an International Christian Centre whose congregation comprise of people from all over the world, including the countries of the West African sub-region, which have already been affected by the Ebola disease.
He said the visit is one the government’s strategy of sensitizing faith-based organizations on the need to cooperate with the government to prevent the spread of the disease in the country by educating their adherents to escalate health issues to medical experts.
Pointing out that the Federal and the Lagos State Governments are working hard on how to prevent a spread of the virus into the country, Idris said the delegation felt that because the Church has some people from the West African sub-region as members and because of the influx and population of the congregation, there might be need to check and also raise the awareness level on the disease in the church.
Idris said: “We have our strategies that we intend to share with you.
“Again, we need to know the resources you have here because whether it is one or two cases, if they are allowed to get out, it is a major problem.
“We are here to work together on how to contain this disease.”
Speaking further on the mission of the delegation, the Director of the Centre for Disease Control, Prof. Abdulsalami Nasidi, said the visit was also both to inform the Synagogue leader of the deadliness of the Ebola virus and to ensure that it does not escape into the country, adding that it has become such a big problem in the sub-region that it is already affecting the economies of the countries involved.
The expert, who is also an Epidemiologist and Virologist, described the visit as “positive engagement mission”, adding: “We are here to engage you positively. We know the powers of this House and your powers and we are duty-bound to protect you and your congregation.”
Nasidi noted that so far there is only one imported case of Ebola virus in the country and the governments are “duty bound to make sure it doesn’t escape into Nigeria”, adding: “We do not doubt the power that God has given you.
“We can’t do that.
“But we want to help and make it work stronger.
“So our mission is to come here and work with you to explore ways to make sure that this thing does not explode.”
Nasidi said the worries of government and why the committee decided to visit the Church was because the congregation comprises people from all over the world.
He, however, particularly singled out the countries of the West African sub-region – Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Guinea – as the greatest worry of the government at the moment because they are the countries that have already been affected by the deadly disease.
On what the delegation intends to do, Prof. Nasidi explained that there are experts from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Education Fund and other international experts to give guidelines, materials and technical expertise on how to ensure that the disease does not spread into the country.
He said: “We have experts from the World Health Organization.”
Responding, Prophet Joshua promised to work with the government to ensure that the disease does not spread into the country.
He said he would put some measures in place to ensure that people from the already affected countries do not enter Nigeria.
One of such measures, he said, is to visit any of the countries when necessary rather than allow their residents come into Nigeria.
He also promised to suspend some of his major Church healing programmes for a few weeks, adding: “I am ready to work with you.
“I love my country and I will be ready to work with you.
“Even if it is a rumour, there is need to secure our environment to ensure that it is safe.”
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