Jonathan: It’s unfair to stigmatise Nigeria over Ebola

President Good¬luck Jonathan on Wednesday strongly condemned some counties especially those of the developed world over stigmati¬sation of Nigerians due to the recent cases of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country.
For the President, there is no justification for such attitude since the disease has been effectively contained in the country.
Jonathan, who received a Spe¬cial Envoy of the United Na¬tions Secretary-General, Mr. David Navarro, in Abuja, said that the Ebola Virus scourge never attained epidemic level in the country.
He urged the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon to help paint the true picture to the world and stop such discriminatory actions against Nigerians.
The president par¬ticularly denounced discriminatory actions such as that which forced Nigeria’s team to the Youth Olympics in China to abandon its participa¬tion.
The Secre¬tary General had commended the Nigerian government for its effective containment of the threat of Ebola.
The President praised the Fed¬eral Ministry of Health, the Lagos State Government and all Nigerians for the suc¬cess achieved so far in con¬taining the virus and avoiding a national epidemic.
He said, “All hands have been on deck to contain the virus here. I commend my team and the Lagos State Government. We have been able to set politics aside and work in unison to deal with a national threat.
“All other Nigerians have played a part too by comply¬ing with the directives and ad¬vice we have issued to stop the virus from spreading any
further. The success we have had is a testimony to what we can achieve as people if we set aside our differences and work together.”
He also assured the UN special envoy that in spite of the seeming success of its con¬tainment measures, the Fed¬eral Government and its agen¬cies would remain vigilant to guard against further cases of Ebola in the country.
According to him, “We will continue to moni¬tor the situation and we will also support other affected African countries as much as we can because we cannot be completely safe from the virus as long as it continues to ravage some countries in our sub-region and continent.
“We will continue to work with the international com¬munity to curb the outbreak in other countries.”
Navarro in remarks told the President that he had come, on the instruc¬tion of the UN Secretary-General, to applaud Nige¬ria’s successful containment of the virus.
The envoy, who had visited Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the countries worst hit by Ebola before coming to Ni¬geria, said:
“The Secretary-General asked me to come here too, not because you have an Eb¬ola problem, but because you have tackled it in an exem¬plary fashion.
“Your personal leader¬ship on the matter has been key. There may still be some work to be done before the virus is completely cleared out from here, but other countries can learn from your fine example,” he said