Reps Urge FG, States To Contain Cholera Outbreak

The House of Representatives has urged the federal and state governments to take measures to control the cholera outbreak in the country.

It mandated the Committees on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values to oversee the citizenry’s rigorous public orientation, enlightenment and education on the need to maintain personal hygiene by relevant government agencies at all times.

These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by the Minority Leader, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, at plenary yesterday.

Moving the motion, Chinda expressed concern over the recent cholera outbreak in Lagos State and several other parts of the country, which the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported and confirmed.

The lawmaker also noted that the outbreak of the disease, which was first widely reported in Lagos State, is now reported to have spread to other parts of the country, with several casualties and deaths reported.

“According to the NCDC, the latest outbreak of the disease continues to be reported in Lagos and 31 other States across the country, including Abia, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Cross River, Delta, Imo, Nasarawa, Katsina and Zamfara States, amongst others.

“Concerned about teeming Nigerians’ public and personal health mainly due to lack of access to clean water, poor sanitation, and poor personal hygiene.

“Also concerned about the rapid rate at which the disease has spread across Lagos and several other parts of the country within so short a time, especially against the backdrop of reports that the government has run out of vaccines to effectively tackle it, even as the death toll continues to escalate in those states.

“Worried that there is an urgent need for quick action/intervention by the federal and respective state governments to curb the disease from further spreading across the country.

“Also worried that unless urgent and proactive steps/measures are immediately adopted, the disease would spread to several other places and possibly escalate than imagined, and this would not be good for the health of the citizenry and the country at large,” he argued.