By Joyce Remi Babayeju
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, has endorsed deeper collaboration between Nigeria and China on disease surveillance, data sharing, preparedness, and emergency response to strengthen Nigeria’s public health strategy.
Pate made this known at a recent high-level health security symposium held in Abuja, where the two countries reaffirmed their commitment to building resilient systems capable of preventing and managing future pandemics.
Speaking with newsmen at the end of the symposium, the minister said lessons from China’s experience in disease control and prevention are critical to addressing outbreaks through a multisectoral approach.
He emphasized that community engagement, trust-building among populations, and the application of new technologies, scientific knowledge, and clinical research would ensure safer communities and a more secure global health environment.
According to the minister, infectious diseases remain a constant global threat, noting that outbreaks often evolve gradually into epidemics and global crises if not detected early.
He therefore called for proactive investment in surveillance systems, data sharing, preparedness, early warning mechanisms, and coordinated response frameworks to beat disease outbreaks in Nigeria.
Pate expressed delight, stating, “We are glad to have this interaction in this symposium with scientists from China and Nigeria. We are open to partnering with every country willing to join hands with us to build our public health capacity—be it China, Europe, or America.
“We are ready to constructively engage with the world so we can build a sound health system based on good science that protects our population.”
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, stated that Nigeria’s partnership with China is fostering dialogue that will help the country leverage diagnostic capacity within its health system.
Salako noted that both countries can learn from each other, adding that the partnership will expand and significantly strengthen health security across the subregion.
Prof., George Gao, Academician and Director-General of the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered a keynote presentation focused on pandemic preparedness and global health security through data sharing, emphasizing the importance of data sharing in disease surveillance and preparedness.
“If we don’t share the data, the virus will share the data,” Gao warned.
He linked poor data sharing to the rapid emergence of COVID-19 variants such as Alpha and Delta, stressing that early information exchange saves lives.
Gao further noted that no country can handle pandemics alone, highlighting the need for cross-border collaboration, joint surveillance systems, and shared scientific research.
He urged Nigeria to strengthen its public health system by prioritizing disease surveillance and early warning systems, laboratory capacity, diagnostics, genomics, and pathogen tracking.
However, Prof. Oyewole Tomori, former president of the Nigeria Academy of Science, during a panel session advised Nigeria to take caution while accepting foreign aid from China or other countries.
Tomori said, “Aid must be accepted with caution, with bilateral agreements that have a clear focus and predetermined objectives in the national interest, while safeguarding national sovereignty.”
He added, “We must ensure that aid is not forever. There must be a time limit and a desire for reversal, when we too will reciprocate. These should guide our relationship with China.”
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