The Minister of State for Health, Olorunibe Mamora has said the Federal Government will evacuate Nigerians living in the epicentre of coronavirus outbreak, Wuhan in China if the need arises.
Mamora said this on February 17 while addressing a press conference after a meeting with ministers of health of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja.
The meeting was on the region’s preparedness and response to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.
On his part, the minister of information, Lai Mohammed said there are 16 Nigerians in Wuhan who have not shown interest to return home.
However, some Nigerians living in Wuhan countered the minister’s statement, saying there were about 60 of them in the city and appealed to the federal government to evacuate them from the country.
At the news conference, Mamora noted that;
We are in touch with our ambassador in China and the Chinese ambassador to Nigeria is also in touch with the ministry. We are getting information on the condition of Nigerians in Wuhan and we are monitoring the health of our citizens, if and when the need arises to evacuate them, we will do so but we don’t want a situation we create panic, this is not time for fear, this is not time for stigmatisation, it is time for science. Chinese government is testing everyone that is trying to leave China to ensure that they don’t go and spread the virus to anyone.”
Also speaking at the conference, Stanley Okolo, director-general of the West Africa Health Organisation (WAHO), noted the region needs to be ready to curb the spread of the virus.
Okolo said;
This is not only the fight for government. The devastation of this epidemic affects everybody. In our estimate, we think it will be in the region of $30 million to $50 million to be sure that we can create headway in terms of critical personal protection, laboratory supplies and others and in terms of communication and coordination across borders.
