President Muhammadu
Buhari has directed that all recently retired staff of the Nigeria Centre for
Disease Control (NCDC) should return work.
Mr Buhari gave the
directive in a series of tweets on his Twitter handle @MBuhari, late Thursday
evening.
The directive is meant
to boost the manpower at the public health agency which is coordinating the
national response of the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
He also gave other
directives to help the country combat the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak.
Mr Buhari said he has
been receiving updates on the country’s response to Covid-19.
Since the outbreak of
the disease in Nigeria, Mr Buhari, unlike the presidents of many other
countries, has not publicly addressed the nation.
Mr Buhari said he has
“directed the NCDC to draft all its recent retirees back into service to beef up
our manpower as we respond to the pandemic.”
He added that all
staff of the agency undergoing training or on foreign assignments should return
to the country.
“Furthermore, all NCDC
staff and experts who are away on training or international assignments are to
return immediately.
“Already the Nigerian
Air Force (NAF) are conducting an evacuation mission to bring back some of our
specialists in Central Africa, to enable them support the national response,”
he said.
The directive is expected
to improve the workforce of the NCDC.
The Director-General
of NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, had said last week that the agency had insufficient
manpower and was maximising what it has.
He said the agency is
not only working to battle Covid-19 but also other diseases like the Lassa
fever which has caused about 176 deaths across the country.