Ochekpe advocates personal hygiene to prevent spread of Ebola virus

The minister made the call at the flag-off of the National Emergency Hand Washing Campaign to prevent the spread of Ebola in Nigeria. The campaign was organized at the Federal Ministry of Water Resources premises, Jabi Motor Park and Wuse main market all in Abuja.  
Speaking at the events, the minister said that promotion of hand washing with soap and running water was part of the mandate of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources at this critical period, thereby stressing the importance of embarking on the sensitization campaign on hand washing.
“We are here as part of our mandate to undertake public enlightenment on hand washing to promote personal hygiene and sanitation. The campaign would go beyond Abuja, we are taking it to the six geo political zones in Nigeria, and we will work with Hon. Commissioners of Water Resources in all the 36 states of the federation through their water supply and sanitation programmes in their various states.”
“This is to emphasize the fact that for us to curtail the spread of the disease, every Nigerian must partake in the campaign process by conducting ourselves right in the way and manner that will promote not just personal hygiene but hygiene of the whole country.”
The minister further said, “Since we are aware that most of the diseases in the country today are water related, we have invited stakeholders to partner with government in promoting sanitation and hygiene. If we do what we are supposed to do, others would copy from us, that is why we are starting the campaign here in the ministry with the hope that each of us would take this assignment very seriously. We should make sure that any time we use either the toilets or shake hands, we should be conscious to wash our hands.”
 “If every Nigerian will imbibe this culture, I believe that the amount of money spent as individuals and as families in the healthcare centres would reduce drastically, it means that there would be more money in our hands to do other things that would promote the wellbeing of the family,” she said.
The minister practically demonstrated the process of hand washing with soap and water and officials of the Jabi Motor Park and Wuse Market leaders also took part in the demonstration.