The Federal Government has dismissed those rumours of the Nigerian Military vaccinating people and using that as an avenue to spread the Monkey pox virus.
This rebuttal was made in Abuja at the briefing after this week’s Federal executive Council meeting
Statehouse Correspondent Tai Amodu reports that the public heath status of the nation was one of the issues of focus at this week’s Federal Cabinet meeting with the Federal Ministry of Health happy to report that of the seventy four suspected cases of Monkey pox, in eleven states of the Federation, only three suspected cases from Bayelsa state had been confirmed
But more worrying was this growing rumour in the public space that the Nigerian Military was vaccinating people in the Medical outreaches of its security exercises across the country and using that as an avenue to spread Monkey Pox
The rumour had started when the virus was first detected in Bayelsa state, which ironically coincided with the start of the medical mission of the Operation Scorpion Dance exercise in the South East
The Federal Executive Council insists nothing can be further from the truth because not only is the Military not involved in any vaccination exercise, but the Federal Government does not carry out vaccination campaigns without
involving the state Governments.
The Health Minister further explained that vaccination campaigns were presently taking place in only three states and the Military had only been engaged by the Federal Health Ministry to help its officials in reaching
areas made inaccessible by the insurgency.
The Federal Cabinet meeting also considered and approved a memo seeking augmentation of 280 million naira to the contract for the completion of the Sobke irrigation project
The Sobke irrigation project was started as far back as 1997 during the era of the Petroleum Development fund and later abandoned.
