The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said the decision of the House of Representatives to suspend plenary for two weeks is needless and could send the wrong signal to Nigerians.
On March 3, Nigerian lawmakers had suspended their usual plenary sessions for two weeks over the coronavirus disease.
The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this during an interview with Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.
Ihekweazu noted that shutting down the lower chamber of the National Assembly could cause panic among Nigerians, adding that;
I have all the respect for the honourable members. They represent Nigerians, they express the anxieties of Nigerians across the country but I think the time has not come to suspend plenary.
The NCDC boss explained that;
If they respond by suspending sessions, everyone else will begin to think ‘should I close my business?’, ‘should I close my office?’, ‘should I close my school? It is disproportionate at this time.
I think what the honourable members should do is supporting the work we are doing; the technical work that the experts are doing. Give us your support; give us a sustainable budget so that we can develop the expertise.
He added that;
Ask us for advice so that we can advise you on what to do. If I were asked, I would tell them that it is too early to carry out a measure like that. They need to express by their actions and words, confidence in the government institutions that they have set up and which is their mandate to fund.
Ihekweazu, who has been in self-isolation for the last one week since returning from China, asked Nigerians to curb the spread of fake news by only sharing information from only trustworthy news outlets.
While talking the cure for the virus, the NCDC boss said;
Gone are the days when cures to diseases could be found in some random village. Cures are found through collective scientific effort and not from my mother’s pot in the village.
Ihekweazu noted that the presence of thermal scanners at the airports was not enough to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus, adding that it takes conscious effort of all stakeholders and Nigerians at large.
