The Minister of Environment, Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, has said that 938 people have died as a result of the cholera outbreak in 22 states across the country.
Nigeria has, so far, recorded 33,661 cases of cholera, the minister also disclosed when addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja, as he called for urgent sensitisation to contain the scourge
He said the latest situation report from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that the disease has spread to 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The minister listed the affected states to include: “Benue, Delta, Zamfara, Gombe, Bayelsa, Kogi, Sokoto, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Kebbi, Cross River, Niger, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Yobe, Kwara, Enugu, Borno, Kastina, Adamawa and FCT.”
He said as part of efforts to combat the diseases, the ministry would be flagging off the National Environmental Sanitation Response Intervention to Cholera Outbreak in Kubwa, Abuja which is currently the epi-centre in the FCT.
The minister, therefore, charged state and local governments and other stakeholders to step up their sanitation and hygiene programmes and activities to curb the spread of the diseases.
