The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party at the 2023 general election Atiku Abubakar has tasked the President Bola Tinubu-led government and state governors to step up action to curtail the spread of diphtheria across the country.
Making this call in a statement made available on his official X account the former vice president who disclosed that he was worried about the spread of the dangerous bacteria condoled with the families of those who died from the disease.
“I urge the Federal and the State Ministries of Health and Social Welfare, the NCDC, the primary healthcare authorities, and all relevant agencies to step up action to curtail the spread of this disease, which is quickly becoming an epidemic,” a statement by Mr Atiku partly read.
Mr Atiku said he was concerned that the media is reporting that the disease has spread to over 105 LGAs across 18 states of the federation, including the FCT, with 7,202 confirmed cases and 453 deaths, mostly of children below the age of 14.
The federal government reported Monday that Nigeria had registered 453 fatalities and 11,587 cases in 19 states of the federation, raising concerns about the spread of the diphtheria disease.
From 105 local government areas (LGAs) in 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), 7,202 of the suspected cases were confirmed.
News About Nigeria reports that Kano State had 6,185 of the total, Yobe had 640, Katsina had 213, Borno had 95, Kaduna had 16, Jigawa had 14, Bauchi had 8, Lagos had 8, FCT had 5, Gombe had 5, Osun had 3, Sokoto had 3, Niger had 2, Cross River had 1, Enugu had 1, Imo had 1, Nasarawa had 1, and Zamfara had 1.
