27th August, 2014
Every Nigerian of cognitive ability is aware of the presence of the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, in the country. This awareness was created through the joint effort by the Lagos State and Federal governments to curtail the spread of the hemorrhaging disease brought into the country by the late Patrick Sawyer, an America-Liberia national. Both governments have been receiving accolades for a job that appears to be well done.
But there appears to be a little issue here. Last week, the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, told a gathering that the N200 million intervention fund that the Federal Government pledged to give to the state is yet to be remitted. The non-remittance of this widely publicised money meant to enable the Lagos State government sustain its effort to tame the spread of Ebola can reverse the gains recorded so far.
The governor said at the occasion that he believed that the delay in releasing the funds could be attributed to bureaucratic bottlenecks. If this is the case, then it must be a sad indication that our response mechanism when there is a national emergency is still archaic.
The Minister of Health Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu announced Tuesday that all but one Ebola cases have been taken care of. But then the challenge begins from where the achievement recorded stopped. As the nation’s economic hub and given its strategic position in the country, Lagos plays host to a lot of people on a daily basis. The task of ensuring the safety of these people from whatever entry point they get into the city is borne by the state government.
Lagos shares a border with Benin Republic in West Africa where three countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are ravaged by the Ebola disease. Therefore, it’s only ideal that the state is adequately funded to ensure that the disease and perhaps other similar diseases are not allowed to spill over from these neighbouring countries. We saw it in the case of Sawyer. If not for the quick response of the Fashola administration and the sacrifice of very well-meaning Nigerians, Ebola would have probably caused more havoc than the five people that have been killed so far in the state.
If these funds are released to Lagos State we expect that the quarantine facilities already established will be maintained and upgraded to meet international standards. In addition, publicity must be upped to ensure that people are not caught unawares. As a proactive government, Nigerians expect that funds are judiciously expended in areas of public health – provision of kits in hospitals, regular screening of visitors into the country, sanitation, screening of consumables sold in markets etc.
As strategically placed as Lagos is, we must expect people to keep drifting from the west African coast where the disease is wreaking havoc. If we fail to do this, we are certain to bear the consequences of our porous borders and inability to ignore our political differences and fight Ebola.
As the only state where the disease has been reported, Lagos must be given very special attention. Apart from the N200 million expected, the state should get a regular intervention fund to ensure that awareness campaigns continue as well as the direct tackling of any fresh case where or whenever it is reported. Lagos has done well, the Federal government must remit this money as a way of encouraging the state to do more in these challenging times.