NCDC Laments Nigeria’s Huge Gap In Chemical Response

Deborah Onyofufeke, Abuja

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has said that there is a huge gap in chemical response in Nigeria as some agencies have response seated in the agency but are not aware of this because things are done in isolation.

The centre added that as a result of this, when the need for a chemical response incident arises, it becomes chaotic as to where the coordination is going to be or how to move ahead or even to send samples.

It also said that there are some instances where the appropriate lab to send some samples becomes an issue which is the essence of having the hybrid exercise.

Speaking at the Hybrid simulation exercise on chemical event yesterday in Abuja, the NCDC Senior Emergency Preparedness and Response Officer, Dr Mardiyya Isyaku Aliyu, stated that a way to fill up the huge gap identified in the chemical response in Nigeria is Health education.

Dr Aliyu explained that health education is one of the ways that can help to fairly reduce the occurrence of incidences not only in chemical response but also in infectious and biological responses.

She said “NCDC, federal ministry of health, federal ministry of water resources, federal ministry of environment, NAFDAC, NEMA, are all several agencies and national bodies that have a stake in this response so that is why we want to analyze the National capacity as a whole not just for our own agency but as a whole on the National capacity that we have to respond to this and then we identify the gaps and improve on it so that ounce we have this incident there is this good collaboration and coordination that things are done fast and efficiently.

“health education usually limits the occurrence but nonetheless it still happens and the main thing is how quick and how efficient do we respond to them when they occur so that is why we are holding this in order to improve our capability in responding to these incidents, Dr Aliyu said”.

Meanwhile, A simulation exercise is an exercise where procedures are tested alongside objectives and policies that have been developed to respond to an event in which an artificial event is produced to look like a real one and then the response team tries to respond to the situation like the real ones after the gaps have been noticed and then improved on before actually improving the response to a real one when it occurs.

Also speaking, Dr John Oladejo, director health emergency, rapid response, NCDC, said the exercise is being carried out to get the stakeholders familiarized with how to handle a chemical response situation when the need arises.

He said “We are looking at the effect of chemicals like gas as it usually occur without any notice. You recall what happened in Delta state when there was chemical explosion close to a school and you know the number of students that were affected, so we in NCDC, part of our mandate is actually to have a simulation exercise bring all the stakeholders together, the MDA, including the police, the military to be able to attend to such events in case it occurs again. So, we are looking at the process, the content, the materials to be used.

“As much as we might be unable to stop it from occurring, our objective is to see that when it occurs it will have minimal impact on the environment and nobody will die. Although there will be minimal casualty, there will be minimal injury, but there will not be death. For example look at what happened in Osun, somebody put gas tank inside a car in the sun and it exploded. This explains how we cannot stop it from occurring but we need a lot of advocacies, sensitization, awareness for people to know what they are expected to do to avert such occurrence”.

Dr Oladejo advised the public to be very much vigilant to know what is happening around them, in case of a dangerous occurrence and ensure to inform the appropriate agency in charge.

He further added that this is not limited to chemical reactions alone but also applies to outbreak of cholera or Lassa fever, he noted that this can easily be done by putting a call through to the call centre where it will immediately be attended to and if there’s any need for RRT (rapid response team) to be sent out, that would immediately be done.