The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has registered 83 deaths, 381 confirmed cases and 1,279 suspected cases of Lassa fever in 2019.
Senior Technical Adviser to the NCDC Chief Executive Officer, Dr Kola Jinadu, stated this to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a health journalism masterclass organised by Nigeria Healthwatch, a non-governmental organisation.
The senior technical adviser said the centre also has 12 probable cases, adding that the cases cut across 21 states of the country.
“We so far have 21 states with active Lassa fever cases with fatality ratio of 21.8 per cent.
“In the efforts to treat the infected persons and check the spread of the disease, 15 healthcare workers were infected with the disease during the period under review,’’ he said.
He said, however, that there was decline in the number of reported cases in the recent weeks.
Jinadu said that a national multi-partner, multi-sectoral Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) led by NCDC continue to coordinate the response activities.
He added that state EOCs have been activated in Ondo, Edo, Ebonyi and Plateau states.
The national rapid response team comprising the NCDC, the Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Environment were working in some of the affected states like Oyo, Edo, Ebonyi, Bauchi, Plateau and Taraba.
“Case guidelines are regularly reviewed and disseminated to stakeholders,’’ he added. (NAN)
9th Senate: It ‘ll be bad to deny south-easterners Senate President — APC chieftain
A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia, Mr Austin Meregini, says it will be bad if the south-easterners are denied the position of Senate President in the 9th National Assembly.
Meregini, APC candidate for Umuahia East Constituency seat in Abia state Assembly in the last general elections, made the assertion while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
“It is natural justice to cede the position to the South east to douse all complaints about marginalisation by the people of the region.
“For the 9th Senate, it is obvious that there is a common consensus and informal agreement among Nigerians that the Southeast is properly positioned to produce the Senate President.
“And it will be bad if south-easterners are denied this position. As we have it now, obviously, it is only the South-South and South-East that are left out in the equation.
“For the South-South, President Muhammadu Buhari took over from South-South; the South-East has never played or occupied any major role within the power configuration of the country,’’ he said.
The APC chieftain added: “It will be natural justice to have a south-easterner assume this position and it will be no other person than Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, the Abia North Senator-elect for the ninth assembly.
“And from all indications without mincing words, no other person is more positioned or more qualified than Chief Orji Uzor Kalu.”
According to him, Kalu though a first term senator in the Senate possesses the requisite leadership and legislative experience to lead the red chamber.
He said that Kalu, as a former member of the House of Representatives in 1991 and two-term governor of Abia, had the love of the country at heart and cares so must about the south-easterners.
“So, in terms of leadership and what it takes to project the interest of the country at the Senate, as well as what it takes to represent the south-easterners, Kalu is more qualified and properly positioned to assume this position.
“By ceding the Senate Presidency to the South-East, it will go a long way to pacify the region, and give them a sense of belonging in the Nigeria equation.”
According to him, if the office is zoned to the region, it will bring natural peace and harmonious coexistence in the country and end all Biafra agitations as well as secession quests.
Meregini said that South-East being brought to the mainstream of Nigeria politics will douse tensions and cries of marginalisation. (NAN)
