By By, Uchechukwu Ugboaja – Abuja
Amidst the recent outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, Prof. Steve Azaiki has urged the Minister of Foreign Affairs to recall the Nigerian Ambassador to China to brief the federal government holistically on the issue and the Minister of Health to immediately convene a National Health Summit.
He made this call when he spoke to newsmen on Wednesday, 5th February after the world has been placed on a public health safety alert by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since the breakout of the deadly coronavirus which was first reported in Wuhan, China on 19th December, 2020.
In view of this development, the congressman and ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, cried out to the Nigerian government especially the Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of Health and Minister of Interior to ramp up efforts to ensure that Nigeria is prepared to respond in a coordinated manner to the coronavirus outbreak which has accounted for about 500 deaths.
Citing recently heightened activities of Boko-Haram in the North-East of the country especially the beheading of Christians, for him, the nation is already overwhelmed with the crisis of insecurity and cannot afford to add another public health epidemic of immense proportion to our national crises.
While addressing the media, the member representing Yenagoa/Kolokuma-Opokuma federal constituency of Bayelsa state urged the Federal Ministry of Health to immediately convene a National Health Summit to address this situation and ensure that our health sector is adequately prepared to deal with the challenge of the outbreak.
The Honourable member further urged the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to recall the Nigerian Ambassador to China, who in his view, is in the best position to furnish the Federal government with the real situation on ground in China as regards the coronavirus outbreak.
Prof. Steve Azaiki, insists that every single Nigerian life matters and must be seen to be the top priority of the Nigerian government no matter their location in the world.
Find text of full press statement below…
CORONAVIRUS: THE WORLD UNDER THREAT!!!
According to Nigerian media reports, Mr. Andimi a Pastor was executed by his captors on 20th January, 2020.
Furthermore, on Jan 19, Boko-Haram insurgents ambushed two seperate Nigerian Army Patrols, killing 17 and abducting a number of soldiers. Just a few weeks earlier, Boko-Haram had ambushed a bridal party on 27th December, killing Martha Bulus, the young bride set to wed on new years eve including her friends. This is in addition to a call I received a few days ago from my cousin whose late mother is from Plateau State but she cannot be buried as we speak because their town has been overrun by terrorists as the town has become a ghost town. All these are markers for high insecurity and the global community is taking note.
The main reason Nigeria was suspended from the immigrant visa category is because Nigeria does not have a credible database or background security investigation system, that international security services like the Interpol can rely on to vet and certify the originality and authenticity of individuals or groups of people coming into their country.
What this means is that, peradventure someone commits a crime in Lagos and relocates to Kano, there is no system in place that can track that crime and the perpetrator.
Virtually most African countries have established such systems, including Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, South-Africa and many others have put such elementary security measures in place one of which includes the birth/death certificate database. While in Nigeria, children who are born today in the computer age, still have to swear a declaration of age in the next ten years.
CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
Today the Chinese government admitted that it has made some mistakes in the handling of the dreaded coronavirus since its outbreak was first reported from Wuhan, China, on December 31 2019.
Latest reports coming in from China reveals that the coronavirus outbreak has killed about 492 people worldwide, the majority of which are in China, and infected more than 24,500 people across 25 countries, after 17,205 cases were reported.
Official reports also have it that over 500 people have been discharged from the hospital after full recovery from the virus, but no medically known vaccine has been discovered so far.
Close to 60 million people remain under lockdown in China, with three cities reporting over a thousand confirmed cases.
As a Nigerian and also a parliamentarian, my primary concern is the wellbeing of Nigerian citizens living in epicenter of the outbreak especially in Wuhan and other affected Chinese Provinces.
Records show that there are about 60 Nigerians who live in these affected areas, who have been identified to include students, researchers, businessmen many of whom live with their wives and children and have repeatedly called on members of the legislature and especially the executive to take necessary action to safeguard their wellbeing.
My Take: As a result of this outbreak, several countries around the world including Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Turkey, The European Union, United Kingdom and the United States of America have taken the initiative to embark on
mass evacuation of its citizens in Wuhan China. Sadly there are no records to show that any African country has initiated the move to evacuate it’s citizens.
It is inspiring that China a country of 1.4billion citizens which has the capacity to receive and manage about 157,000 visitors into China daily, have responded appropriately to this outbreak, by providing the needed medical health infrastructure and human capital resources to manage the coronavirus outbreak.
On this note, I am of the personal view that Nigeria as a country that claim to be the largest black nation on the earth, and a country that prides itself as the giant of Africa should be able to do something and so I advise that;
1. The Presidency, must and should address the nation on the preparedness of Nigeria. 2. I am employing the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama to recall the Nigerian Ambassador to China, H.E. Baba Ahmed Jidda, for briefing.
3. The Minister of Foreign
Affairs must brief the House in the next seven days. 4. The Ministry of Health
and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should immediately call for a National Health Summit to discuss the way forward.
5. The Ministry of Interior and the relevant agencies must give Nigerians the guarantee that we are prepared to receive visitors coming into the country, especially through our land borders.
6. The Nigerian government
must send a delegation comprising of the relevant Ministries and Agencies as well as members of the National Assembly to China, so as to advise the Federal Government on necessary action to take going forward; should we evacuate our citizens and bring them back to our
quarantine facilities where they can be properly observed and monitored? Or should we seek the assistance of the Chinese government to help us move them to a safe zone?
7. The Federal government
must stand up to its responsibility and make sure that Nigerians everywhere and anywhere remains our responsibility.
Prof. Stephen Azaiki, OON. is a ranking member of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, and he represents Yenagoa/Kolokuma-Opokuma Federal Constituency, Bayelsa State.
