Ebola: FG to commit trust fund, says Okonjo- Iweala

The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that Nigeria would commit its Trust Fund with African Development Bank (AfDB) to support efforts to end Ebola in West Africa.

Okonjo-Iweala said this at the on-going 2014 Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, U.S.A.

She said Nigerian government had donated 3.5 million dollars through the ECOWAS to support Ebola-hit countries in the sub-region.

“We quickly moved to donate money three months ago through ECOWAS and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan donated 3.5 million dollars to the countries.

“We have been working through Redeemers University and our Centres for Disease Control to train health workers and do laboratory works.

“We stand to do more and are ready to do more.

“I have talked to Donald Kaberuka about using the Nigeria Trust Fund at the ADB to try and move quickly and my final point is short and medium term,’’ she said.

According to her, winning the war against the disease will require stronger private sector support and strengthening of the health systems on a global scale.

Okonjo-Iweala, commended Nigeria’s private sector for its support which enabled the Federal Government to contain the scourge.

The minister said that engaging the private sector would help in quick mobilisation of needed resources, including funds and logistics.

She said this would enable various initiatives of governments still battling with the Ebola crisis to achieve the desired results in a timely manner.

“The lesson we learned is that quick communication and mobilisation of logistics that the President of Liberia, Mrs Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, mentioned is key.

“Our private sector was very active in donating money and helping with the logistics.

“The additional suggestion I want to make is that we have to bring in the private sector.

“They have varied expertise in logistics and we need them to come in and move the logistics in these situations,’’ she said.

She called on the global community to help West Africa, particularly the affected countries, avert a potential crisis that could roll back the economic development and achievements of the sub-regional economies.

Source