Fight Boko Haram like Ebola, NLC tells FG

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Abdul- Waheed Omar, has asked the Federal Government to fight the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents with the same zeal it has been fighting the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease in the country.

Umar spoke at a one-day sensitisation on prevention of the EVD in the workplace, organised by the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria in Kaduna on Monday.

Challenging the Federal Government on the need to re-double its efforts in the fight against terrorism in the country, the NLC boss also made case for the welfare of health workers.

Omar said the Federal Government should address all outstanding issues with the Nigerian Medical Association and other health workers’ bodies in the country.

“If Federal Government should fight Boko Haram the way it is fighting Ebola, then the insurgency would have ended since. So I call on the government to be as proactive to Boko Haram as it has done to Ebola,” he said.

The NLC boss asked the government to redirect more energy and resources as in the case of the Ebola virus towards bringing to an end to the Boko Haram insurgency.

Earlier in his remarks, the NUTGTWN’s Secretary-General, Alhaji Issa Aremu, said there was the need for continuous enlightenment and sensitisation of the people on the EVD.

Aremu, who is also the Vice President of NLC, said the essence of the workshop was to enlighten members of the labour force about the disease and how to prevent it.

He said, “As deadly as the Ebola Virus Disease is, we should not forget that there are other diseases like malaria, polio and Cholera, which have cure but are still rampant in the country. Thus as we battle with the deadly Ebola virus disease, we should do more with other diseases with known treatment/prevention. It is all about good health care and good governance.

“We commend the recent resolution of the crisis in the health sector that led to the calling off of strike action by doctors under the Nigeria Medical Association. We are also impressed that the Federal Government has withdrawn the earlier sack order of the doctors.

“The truth is that we cannot resolve the numerous health challenges, particularly the threat posed by the Ebola Virus Disease, if we continue to have crisis in the health sector. The doctors must be on duty and also look again at their strategy for welfare improvement beyond the most predictable and increasingly unhelpful endless work stoppages.

“Government itself must provide health workers with the necessary tools including insurance covers to deal with the latest menace of Ebola. Above all, both the doctors and the government must be tempered by the miserable Nigeria’s health numbers”.

In his paper, entitled, “Ebola Virus Disease: what we need to know,” Dr. Sani Gwarzo, who is the Director, Port Health Services, Federal Ministry of Health, said the era of sensitisation was over but action towards preventing the EVD.

Gwarzo, who is also a member of Incident Management Committee on Ebola Virus Disease, said the incidence of Ebola started in 1976 which he said was known as rural Ebola that killed a lot of animals and human beings in far away Central Africa.