The Consular-General of American Embassy, Mr Jeffrey Hawkins, on Wednesday commended the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for its effort to combat the spread of Ebola Virus Disease at the ports.
A statement by Mr Musa Iliya, NPA’s Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs, issued in lagos on Wednesday said Hawkins gave the commendation when he visited the NPA.
The statement quoted Hawkins as saying that the American Government would collaborate with Nigeria to check the scourge. It said that his country’s experts were at the Centre for Disease
Control to manage the spread of the disease. According to him, the Nigerian ports being a key element in Nigeria’s inflow and outflow of business concerns, should be properly managed to
contain the spread of the disease. “There is need to consolidate on NPA’s efforts to ensure safer ports in Nigeria,” it quoted Hawkins as saying.
He urged the port health officials to check people working in the port and every other person they make contact with. The statement said that the Managing Director of NPA, Malam Habib
Abdullahi, said that health officials, including those of Lagos State Government had been put on the alert to check the spread of the disease.
Abdullahi said that the officials were the first to enter vessels and conduct checks before other legitimate officials were allowed on board.
“The number of people who board vessels have been reduced drastically since Nigeria does not operate cruise ships and hardly receive vessels from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea for now,” he said (NAN)
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