President Bola Tinubu has given a directive on the setting up of a presidential committee to coordinate the activities of the Cholera Emergency Operation Centre, operated by the National Centre For Disease Control.
The Minister of Health, Professor Ali Pate, made the disclosure on Tuesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
He added that the committee’s effort is in addition to state government support to ensure Nigeria makes progress in reducing open defecation.
“The Council then approved a cabinet committee comprising the federal ministries of Health, Finance,Water Resources, Environment, Youth, Aviation, Education because some of our children will be returning to school. In addition to this, the state government, will co-opt, so that Nigeria makes progress in reducing open defecation because cholera is a developmental issue that requires a multi-sectoral approach.
“The President directed that a cabinet committee be set up to oversee what the emergency operation centre led by NCDC is doing and for the resources to be provided complemented by the state government,” the minister said.
Pate added: “At the moment about 31 states have recorded 1528 cases and 53 deaths in Nigeria. That is what we are working through the Emergency Operation Centre that was activated by NCDC on Monday.
“Now we have a cholera outbreak and we discussed extensively in the Council in addition to a new emergence of Yellow Fever specifically in Bayelsa State.
“On cholera we are in the middle of the 7th pandemic globally which is decades in the making. In 2022, the world had almost 500,000 cases of cholera so it is not only peculiar to Nigeria. In 2023 almost 700,000 cases of cholera were reported by the World Health Organization.
“This year more than 200,000 cases have occurred in five regions of the World.”
The Minister stressed the need for a multi sectoral approach to tackle the outbreak, he said resources had been deployed to 21 states to help them respond to cholera.
