PH Mundial – Port Harcourt Online Newspaper News Across The Region
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Following the scare that broke out in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, as rumours of alleged army vaccination drive went round the capital, authorities of 6 Division Nigerian Army and the state government have denied sending soldiers into the streets to vaccinate children.
Pandemonium broke loose in various parts of the state as pupils and students fled their classes, and parents were seen running to their children’s schools to withdraw them, over fears that the army was using the alleged vaccination drive to inject children with the dreaded monkey pox virus.
But the Nigerian Army Tuesday dispelled the rumours, describing them as “callous, unpatriotic and intended to cause pandemonium among the general public, and spread by enemies of the state.
Deputy Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Aminu Iliyasu, in a statement, said the rumours are to say the least, despicable, deplorable and highly condemnable by all well-meaning Nigerians.
“The authorities of 6 Division Nigerian Army wishes to inform the public that while the Nigerian Army plans to undertake such gestures like free medical outreaches, sanitation exercises in host communities and distribution of educational materials as part of our community relations activities during the ongoing Operation Crocodile Smile II, these activities are yet to be conducted and will eventually be conducted with the consent of relevant authorities of designated communities and at venues and dates that will be duly communicated to the general public through future press releases and relevant posters.”
He stressed that the Nigerian Army “does not and will never carry out its medical outreaches or vaccination exercises in schools. We can therefore inform the public that the ongoing rumours about Nigerian Army Personnel going round schools in military camouflage to forcefully immunize school children are not true and should therefore be discountenanced with.”
Colonel Iliyasu urged members of the public to call 09072509436-8 to report any case of any individual or group that may be seen actually trying to commit such acts.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State government has said that did not authorise the Nigeria Army or any other person to enter into school premises and administer forced medication or vaccination on any child in any school in the state.
The state commissioner for Information and Communications, Emma Okah, in a statement on Tuesday said inoculation is personal and the consent of the state government and parents must first be sought and obtained before it can be administered on any school child in a school premises.
Consequently, he said, all school heads and parents should resist any such attempt, adding that the state government has set up a task force to ensure that no school premises is violated for the purpose of immunizing any child.
“We appeal to members of the public to remain calm and return their kids to school as RSG will continue to ensure their peace and security,” Okah said.
Meanwhile the state government has ordered the arrest of anyone attempting to vaccinate any child in any school premises in the state.
