The Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Benjamin Chidoka, has said the outbreak of the Ebola Virus would, rather than dampen, be a boost to the ministry‘s preparedness and tempo for the attainment of the Category 1 certification.
Chidoka made this disclosure while reacting to a question by a delegation from the United States Embassy in Nigeria, led by the Deputy Head of Mission, Maria Brewer, which visited him in his office
Brewer had asked if the Ebola outbreak will not be a dampener to the country’s quest for Category 1 status
He said: “All the processes are being upgraded in making sure that we attain the Category 1 status.
“By the time the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria returns next month, all gaps would have been corrected.”
Earlier, the Minister had said the Federal Government was developing a protocol at the airports for future curtailment of any epidemic that is highly contagious or outbreak of any disease in the nearest future across the country.
Chidoka further said that the ministry was exploring collaborative ways with the Embassy in the areas of training and capacity building
He said: “We intend to collaborate with the Embassy in several ways.
“The virus brought by the Liberian into Nigeria had posed a real challenge for the West African region.
“This is an unfortunate episode of a man that imported the disease into Nigeria.
“Our reaction has been quite swift and these measures have been far reaching and so far all the people with primary contact are known and quarantined.
“We are thinking that the transport sector is going to be the purveyor of the movement of people from point A to B.”
Chidoka credited the government for being proactive.
He added: “I also believe that all the things that we need to do in going forward like the screening and increase in health workers, the Ministry of Health has been given waiver to recruit more healthy workers.
“We have started the testing of all passengers across the airports.”