Fred Itua, Abuja

The Senate, yesterday, expressed doubt on the preparedness of the Federal Government to prevent a national outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.

It accused government of not doing enough to police entry points into the country, especially air and sea ports.

It said while other countries with state-of-the-art medical facilities were doing everything to prevent the outbreak, Nigeria was not taking enough steps to prevent the epidemic.

The positions of the Senate followed a point of order raised by Deputy Leader, Robert Ajayi Boroffice, who drew attention of his colleagues to poor preparedness of port health officials at the nation’s airports as opposed to steps taken at airports in other countries.

“I was in South Africa on Friday. I came back on Wednesday. Because of the issue of coronavirus, every country in the world is taking preventive measures because the wisdom is that prevention is better than cure. In South Africa, we were not allowed to leave the aircraft for good 30 minutes. Officers of the medical corps came into the aircraft and screened everybody before we were allowed out, but when I arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport, there was no screening.

“All we were given is a sheet of paper to indicate whether we were sick and whether we have been to one country or the other, and how we will be contacted if there is an emergency. How will you trace me? How do you know if I have fallen sick? This is very frightening.

“Something has to be done to ensure that we do not give way to a situation which we will not be able to control. Countries that have adequate medical facilities are working hard to ensure that they contain the spread of coronavirus. From what I saw yesterday, I was afraid,” said Sen. Boroffice.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Abdulaziz Abdullahi, however, said government in preparation for surveillance and response to an eventual outbreak of Covid-19 had released N386 million to two health agencies.

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who presided over the plenary, mandated relevant committees to engage officials of the Ministry of Health on what they were doing to prevent the outbreak coronavirus.

“While the Federal Ministry of Health and the associated agencies may be doing their best, with this explanation, the best is not good enough and we should not take anything for granted.   We must be prepared. We must take all the necessary measures at our ports – airports, seaports.

“If someone is coming from China, he should be quarantined, not self-isolation. I want to urge the committees on Primary Healthcare and Health to engage with the Federal Ministry of Health once again. We want to see every possible effort done in our airports or seaport,” Lawan said.