Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has revealed what the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration must do to combat outbreak of coronavirus in the country.
Atiku made the disclosure in a ‘patriotic counsel’ he shared on his social media pages on Friday.
This followed Thursday’s announcement by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire that the nation had recorded its index case of the deadly virus in Lagos.
The ex-vice president said that the government must consider temporarily halting flights to and fro countries with a high prevalence of the virus.
Atiku, who was the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019, wrote, “Now that Nigeria has had her first confirmed case of the Corona Virus infestation, via a citizen of Italy, who visited Lagos and Ogun states, I would want to offer my patriotic counsel to the government of General Muhammadu Buhari, on how best to tackle this issue.
“We must call upon our experience with the Wild Ebola Virus, of which we were the first nation in the world to defeat that scourge in 2014.
“How did Nigeria do it? We achieved it by showing unprecedented unity.
“The federal government of the day worked closely with the Lagos and Rivers state governments.
“There was complete unity, solidarity and oneness of purpose, which created the atmosphere that defeated that deadly infestation.
“I strongly counsel that any tendency to blame and point fighters must be temporarily, if not permanently, suspended. If fingers must be pointed, it must be to solutions.
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“Nigeria needs firm and decisive actions to prevent an escalation of the scourge.
“Recently, we closed our borders as an act against economic sabotage.
“Perhaps now is the time to temporarily halt flights to and from any nation with a prevalence of this scourge.
“It is more important to secure human lives than to secure an economy. We also need to invest in early detection facilities at our airports.
“But above all, Nigeria must not panic. Whether at government or individual levels. We have defeated Ebola before, and we can defeat this present predicament.
“This crisis is an opportunity to show that we are first and foremost Nigerians and that we have no other country but our dear fatherland, which we must work together to keep healthy and secure.
“God bless Nigeria and her people.”