Meningitis outbreak, God’s punishment for Nigeria —Zamfara gov

ZAMFARA State governor and chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Abdulaziz Yari,  said the outbreak of meningitis was God’s punishment for Nigeria over the evil-doing of citizens.

Speaking in Hausa to State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday, he observed that whereas the virus that used to afflict victims was Type A against which people have been vaccinated, God chose to bring Type C strain which had no vaccination.

He said: “What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the type A virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has carried out vaccinations against this type A virus not just in Zamfara State, but also many other states.

“However, because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to send Type C virus, which has no vaccination.

“People have turned away from God and He has promised that ‘if you do anyhow, you see anyhow’ that is just the cause of this outbreak as far as I am concerned.

“There is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured,” he said.

He absolved government from blame over the outbreak.

On his government’s effort to contain the scourge, he recalled that he had summoned an emergency meeting of all top state and local government  officials and traditional rulers, saying:   “the meeting came out with a strategy to be adopted and the money required to deal with the outbreak and a lot of work is going on.”

According to him, relevant organisations around the world have noted the insufficiency in the vaccine for this strain which has only five million doses available.

“That is not enough for Zamfara people alone, not to talk of Katsina or Kano,” he said.

Yari pointed out that the Federal Ministry of Health had only 50,000 doses of the vaccine, out of which 20,000 had been given to Zamfara State because of the high rate of infection in the state.

He added: “Our focus as a state now is to continue treating those who are infected with the disease, but as for vaccination, it has an international dimension.

“We have information that Nigeria will get the highest percentage of the five million doses available now. Apart from WHO, other International bodies such as the Bill Gates foundation and UNICEF are also currently focusing on how to tackle the outbreak.”

He was, however, confident that the outbreak would be controlled, noting that “the most important thing is for our people to know that their relationship with God is not smooth. All they need to do is repent and everything will be all right.”

When asked whether it was the people rather than the leadership that should repent, Governor Yari replied:  “Leaders are doing their best by enlightening the populace and working assiduously for the good of all.

“Your major assignment as a leader is to convey the message; you cannot go from house to House and arrest offenders for instance.”