The Minister of Health, Ali Pate, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the council meeting presided over by the President at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He also disclosed that the cabinet committee would comprise members from the Federal Ministry of Health, Finance, Water Resources, Environment, Youth, Aviation and Education.
He added that the committee’s effort was in addition to state government support to ensure Nigeria made progress in reducing open defecation.
The minister said the council then approved a cabinet committee comprising the federal ministries of health, ministry of finance, water resources, environment, youth, aviation, and education because some children will be returning to school.
In addition to this, he said the state governments will be co-opted so that Nigeria makes progress in reducing open defecation because cholera is a developmental issue that requires a multi-sectoral approach.
According to him, the President directed that cabinet committee be set up to oversee what the emergency operation centre led by NCDC is doing and for the resources to be provided, complemented by state governments.
The minister said that at the moment, 31 states had recorded 1528 cases in Nigeria with 53 deaths.
On cholera, Pate said we are in the middle of the 7th pandemic globally which is decades in the making in 2022 the world had almost 500,000 cases of cholera so it is not only peculiar to Nigeria. He added that In 2023 almost 700,000 cases of cholera were reported by the World Health Organisation while this year, more than 200,000 cases have occurred in five regions of the World,
He also emphasised that a multi-sectoral approach was required to tackle the outbreak.