Umar Omeiza Jimoh ( President SSACTAC)
Umar Omeiza Jimoh ( President SSACTAC)
I think the Nigerian Ports Authority is doing the enlightenment for stakeholders about the virus and it is really helping, because its being made compulsory that if you do not have access you cannot enter the port. Both the pilot and crew have to make sure that they are quarantined properly before they are allowed out of the vessels. Apart from the ports, I think everyone needs to be educated about it, thus it is not the government job alone to put us through, but we as an individual should also know when to wash our hands ,making the environment you are living to be clean, Finally, anyone who violates this rules should be reported.
Emmanuel Akidi (NCMDLCA)
As far as the seaports and airports are concerned, I will say proper enlightenment programmes have not been put in place. I think the agencies should carry out an aggressive enlightenment campaign programmes for the stakeholders, because these routes are economic entry points and you will agree with me that no permanent cure has been found to tackle the dreaded virus. The seaports, airports and land borders should be tightened to monitor people that come in, most especially the seafarers and crew members on board ships that call at our ports. Though many cases of the virus have not been recorded in Nigeria, but prevention they say is, better than cure. Again we don't need to bother ourselves that much because a sick sailor or international businessman from the vulnerable countries cannot go about with the virus talk less of travelling when the alarm has been raised.
Comrade Pius David (Stakeholder)
I think the agencies of government have been able to enlighten the operators to a large extent because apart from the port , the Ebola virus is known by everyone at the moment and it is not restricted to the port alone. We are aware that NPA took some precautionary measures to enlighten maritime stakeholders about the killer disease and I think it’s a plus to them.
Patrick Ozobialu (Chairman, ANLCA Seme Border)
We have had lectures on Ebola, we deliberately chose our general meeting where everybody was invited and the health workers were present to lecture us more. Apart from this, we also had awareness through Customs and all the security agencies in an open field. So the people of Seme cannot say they are not aware, we have propagated it so high. We also bought the hand sanitizer and shared it to people; this is the gateway to the economy of the country. We also heard from the health people that two people were suspected to have contacted Ebola disease at Cotonou, so we used the medium as well to warn
Chris Chukwu (NCMDLCA)
The government should be blamed about the virus coming into Nigeria, because they are not proactive. The government before now knew about the virus but nothing was done to that effect. The present situation we are faced with cut across land borders, seaports and airport, but I think the sensitisation is yet to be spread as expected. We gathered that the President has budgeted a total of N1.9 billion for the virus, yet the country has been hit with Ebola, which is not too good for us as stakeholders.
Comrade Julius Efokpor ( Merchant Navy)
The Ebola virus is a very deadly disease which has become a nightmare to everyone in the maritime sector and as an individual; I think those ship operators will take proper precaution on people who enter the port without having business in the port. The stakeholders are enlightened through different medium like on-line, maritime newspaper and also other newspapers and also on TV and radio, because before anyone gets to the port he/she must have some form of identity card which is like an access to the port area. Those who are trained on the ISPS Code should make sure that people don’t get into the port without having any business in the port for security reason; these will help prevent the wild spread of this disease called Ebola.
Samuel Babatunde (POTEMAN)
I think there are various ways to be enlightened about it and to the best of my knowledge the information on EBOLA virus can be read through different newspapers, on-line and also in the electronic media. They should come up with a programme in which potential port users have the opportunity to be enlightened about how one can contact this virus, how to prevent yourself from getting it, safety precautions and so on. This will go a long way to assist, therefore I will say they are enlightened to a large extent.
Prince Offiong Emmanuel (NCMDLCA)
The awareness has not really got to the level as expected by stakeholders because we expect the NPA and NIMASA to do more campaign on the Ebola virus at the port level, but nothing has been done so far. The Immigration Service, Port Health and others need to come and tell port operators the safety precautions about it. Though NPA came out recently to inform the public about guidelines to the Ebola disease, but they really need to increase the tempo. The port is very strategic, therefore there is the need to do more in the area of sensitizing the user of port about the virus.
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