How Nigeria Defeated Ebola - Comparative Case Study for Other Countries.

The World Health Organization on Monday 20th October 2014, declared Nigeria officially Ebola-free, after 42 days -- or two incubation periods -- without any new confirmed cases of the deadly virus. Same year 2014, Guinea worm was totally eradicated  from her troubled 650,000 cases of outbreak few years back and today, Nigeria officially Ebola free, according to World Health Organization. 

The virus is gone – for now. The outbreak in Nigeria has been defeated.

                                What accounts for this great news?

To a large extent, the answer is straightforward: the country’s strong leadership and effective coordination of the response. The Nigerian response to the outbreak was greatly aided by the rapid utilization of a national public institution (NCDC) and the prompt establishment of an Emergency Operations Centre, supported by the Disease Prevention and Control Cluster within the WHO country office.
Another key asset was the country’s first-rate virology laboratory affiliated with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. That laboratory was staffed and equipped to quickly and reliably diagnose a case of Ebola virus disease, which ensured that containment measures could begin with the shortest possible delay.
In addition, high-quality contact tracing by experienced epidemiologists expedited the early detection of cases and their rapid movement to an isolation ward, thereby greatly diminishing opportunities for further transmission.

How a highly contagious virus was stopped dead in its tracks

Dr Rui Vaz and the WHO country team of epidemiologists, clinicians, logisticians and administrators have identified a number of specific lessons that may be useful for other countries facing their first imported Ebola case or preparing for one. They have also carefully documented a large number of “best practices” for containing an Ebola outbreak quickly.
The most critical factor is leadership and engagement from the head of state and the Minister of Health. Generous allocation of government funds and their quick disbursement helped as well. Partnership with the private sector was yet another asset that brought in substantial resources to help scale up control measures that would eventually stop the Ebola virus dead in its tracks.
Health and government officials fully appreciated the importance of communication with the general public. They rallied communities to support containment measures.
House-to-house information campaigns and messages on local radio stations, in local dialects, were used to explain the level of risk, effective personal preventive measures and the actions being taken for control. On his part, the President reassured the country’s vast and diversified population through appearances on nationally televised newscasts.
The full range of media opportunities was exploited – from social media to televised facts about the disease delivered by well-known “Nollywood” movie stars.

Published by WHO Media Centre

How Mrs Igbo Escaped From Kidnappers'Den

A traumatized middle-aged woman, Mrs. Patience Igho who recently escaped from the den of kidnappers in Agbara forests at the outskirts of Ogun state has recounted her horrible ordeal and how she managed to escape.

According to Igho who sells frozen fish, on that fateful day, she left her house in the early hours of the day with N130, 000 which she wanted to deposit in the bank, Vanguard reports.

The victim Mrs Patience Igho
On her way to Boundary Market in Ajegunle, Lagos, she boarded a commercial bus with four women and two men already seated and she surprisingly found herself in Agbara forest with no clue how she got there.

“It was after I regained consciousness that I found myself with over 200 people. One of them told me that I was at Agbara forest. The person told me that some of them have been there for over seven months,” she said.

READ ALSO: Gunmen Abduct Ogun Lawmaker’s Mother

She explained that her captors later came with water in a dirty container and asked them to drink but she refused and they threatened to kill her and vowed she will be the first person to be sacrificed.

Igho said: “Few hours later, I was surprised to see another victim, a woman, who said she had spent months in captivity. She boldly commended me for not taking the water they offered me saying that if I had taken it, I would have been unconscious and accept every of their demands, adding that she is a mother of four captured with her four children on their way to church on a Sunday morning and three of her children had been slaughtered already.”

They later stripped all the captives naked and shaved their hairs, private part and armpit which they placed inside a pot in preparation for their ritual.

After which the hairs were thrown into a boiling pot and they were forced to recite some incantations.

“Earlier before that, I had seen a young lady who was brought before the pot to recite such words bearing a tattoo of scorpion on her right arms but she screamed Jesus! When the man that was performing the incantation saw the tattoo on her body, he refused to perform the rites on her, saying her blood was contaminated already.

At this stage, we noticed that there were different buckets for sensitive parts like head, ears, private parts, etc. they were placed on top of a slab which butchers use in killing animals. The bold woman told us that politicians and ritualists thronged to the place to buy those parts,” she explained.

READ ALSO: Two Armed Robbers, Kidnappers Killed In Police Shootout

Speaking on how she managed to gain her freedom, she said a man who looked like their leader noticed she was not reciting the incantation and ordered his men to beat her up. While they were beating her, she started screaming, Jesus and called many names ascribed to God.

The leader then rushed out and ordered the boys to dispose me at the nearest Bus-Stop. They bundled her into a bus and dropped her at the back of Agbara market and from there she trekked to Federal Government College, Ijanikin to beg for money from her relatives who stay in that area.

“It was like a nightmare but I experienced it and survived by the special grace of God. I will not wish my worst enemy to go through what I passed through because it was so traumatizing,” she said.

She therefore called relevant security agencies to quickly intervene and raid all the kidnappers hide outs and rescue all the helpless people there waiting for rescue.

NUJ_Europe Support Doctors Without Borders (MSF) On Ebola

   Nigeria Union of Journalists Europe (NUJE) support the cause of Doctors Without Borders. 

Nigeria Union of Journalists Europe (NUJE) Council has been giving support to the cause of Doctors Without Borders. In a statement in London that was credited to the acting President of NUJ Europe Council Prince Lashley Oladigbolu, the Union throw their support to MSF  by expressing that "Service to the Humanity is the best work of life. We shall not diminish over our responsibility to maintain media advocacy in the strategies towards informing the people of  Nigeria and the government. With barely two days to be issued WHO Health Bill, Nigerians should be wary of contacting the virus and strictly adhere to preventive meaures of the deadly disease."

The statement further identified that proper hand-washing and dilligent hygene maintainance are significant approach to preventing diseases and should therefore be encouraged among every Nigerians.

In conclusion Prince Oladigbolu shared on his facebook page that "On behalf of the members of Nigeria Union of Journalists Europe Council, I wish to encourage every Nigerians to show their support and continue to appreciate unrelenting efforts by   many volunteers for Doctors Without Borders  (MSF) being geared towards caring for the people affected by Ebola scourge in West Africa. 

Please show your support in every capacity you can to this cause.

Lashley Oladigbolu 

President (Acting) NUJE".

From https://m.facebook/KBJOJO. and https://m.facebook.com/msf.english

We believe that Service to the Humanity is the best work of life.

On behalf of the members of Nigeria Union of Journalists Europe Council, I call on every Nigerians to show their support and continue to appreciate unrelenting efforts by many volunteers for Doctors Without Borders being geared towards caring for the people affected by Ebola scourge in West Africa. 

Please show your support in every capacity you can to this cause.

Lashley Oladigbolu
President (Acting)
NUJE

https://m.facebook.com/msf.english

Ceasefire? How Nigerian Government and Boko-Haram Purpotedly Differed in Ceasefire !

An Unending War: After about five years of hostilities, Nigerian military forces and the Boko Haram terrorist group have agreed to a ceasefire. The development has been confirmed by the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh. 

The deal was reportedly struck on Friday with representatives of the Federal Government, the Chadian government and the Boko Haram sect in attendance. The CDS has ordered officers on the field to comply with the terms of the agreement.

There had been rumours of talks between the group and the Federal Government, especially over the release of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from Chibok, a community in Borno State. "I wish to inform this audience that a ceasefire agreement has been concluded," Badeh said in a statement. 

Chief of Defense Staff Alex Badeh issued an order Friday, telling all service chiefs “to comply with the ceasefire agreement between Nigeria and Boko Haram in all theaters of operations.” The text went out after Danladi Ahmadu, who calls himself the secretary-general of Boko Haram, told VOA that a cease-fire agreement had been reached.

Earlier, Ahmadu and a close advisor to President Goodluck Jonathan, Ambassador Hassan Tukur, told VOA that the sides were holding talks in Saudi Arabia, aided by Chadian President Idriss Deby and high-level officials from Cameroon.Those talks also focused on the release more than 200 girls abducted by Boko Haram six months ago.  There was no immediate word on the fate of the girls.

Ahmadu, who said he is at a location on the Nigerian-Chadian border, said the girls are “in good condition and unharmed.”

On April 14, dozens of Boko Haram fighters stormed a secondary school in the remote northeastern village of Chibok, kidnapping around 270 girls. Fifty-seven managed to escape.Boko Haram leader “Abubakar Shekau” later threatened to sell the remainder as slave brides, vowing they would not be released until militant prisoners were freed from jail. Ahmadu would not elaborate on the conditions under which the girls would be freed. 

The Saudi government is not involved in the negotiations.

Nigerian President Jonathan has been criticized at home and abroad for his slow response to the kidnapping and for the inability of Nigerian troops to quell the violence by the militants, seen as the biggest security threat to Africa’s top economy and leading energy producer.

Boko Haram has said it is fighting to establish an Islamic state in Muslim-majority northern Nigeria.The group has launched scores of attacks in the past five years, targeting markets, bus stations, government facilities, churches and even mosques.  Militants recently took over some towns in the northeast for what the group’s leader said would be an Islamic caliphate.The Nigerian military says the man who appeared in Boko Haram videos as Abubakar Shekau was actually an impostor, and that the real Shekau was killed several years ago.It says the impostor was killed last month during a battle in the town of Konduga. 

A new video of the man appeared a few days later but the military has stood by its assertion that the Boko Haram leader is dead.

The arrowhead of the negotiation is believed to be Danladi Ahmadu, the self-acclaimed Secretary-General of Boko Haram.Though it is not known whether Ahmadu and Abubakar Shekau belong to the same faction as Shekau. The Boko Haram leader had often stated that his organization would not enter into talks with the government.

In his Independence Day speech on October 1, President Jonathan had urged the group to embrace dialogue.