Lagos State Government Alert On Ebola Virus Is a Joke!

I will begin this write-up by saying Ebola disease is real, dangerous and a very difficult situation to contain.

The disease itself is not a joke it is the way the Lagos state government is handling the situation.

Directly below, in italics, is the statement issued by Lagos State commissioner for health, Dr. Jide Idris, as it is reported by various media outlets:

“Ebola virus ds caused by the Ebola virus and outbreaks occur primarily in villages of the Central and West Africa. The virus can be spread through, close contact with the blood, body fluids, organ and tissues of infected animals; direct contact with blood, organ or body secretions of an infected person. The transmission of the virus by other animals like monkey and chimpanzee cannot be ruled out.”

Can anyone notice what is wrong with the statement released by the honourable commissioner?

The first line of the statement alone contains a typographical and a grammatical error: “Ebola virus ds caused by the Ebola virus…” With due respect, that statement makes very little if any sense at all. We believe the statement should have read, “Ebola (is) caused by the Ebola virus…”

The people responsible could argue that it was only a couple of simple errors but that is not the point. The point is this, if the government cannot get a simple press release right how can we trust them to handle an epidemic outbreak efficiently?

It appears like nobody made an effort to proof-read the statement. If that’s the case, how will they deal with the outbreak? (God forbid it happening)

Unless the mistake occurred somewhere between the commissioner’s office and the media outlets the fact that no one working with the honourable commissioner spotted the glaring errors puts the government’s ability to deal with an outbreak into question.

Nigerians in general have lost confidence in government and releasing a statement on a matter of great importance like the outbreak of an epidemic, which contains such glaring errors won’t do much to restore that confidence.