Nigerians have begun a petition calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to name the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) building after late Dr Stella Adadevoh.
The petition launched by one Dada Olusegun had over 9,940 as at the time of filing this report on Friday.
Dr Adadevoh is credited with preventing the spread of the Ebola virus in Nigeria in 2014.
She identified the index case, Liberian Patrick Sawyer, while working at the First Consultant Hospital Obalende, Lagos State.
Her commitment and insistence on keeping Sawyer at the hospital in spite of diplomatic pressure helped curbed the spread of the disease.
Sawyer eventually died from the disease as did Adadevoh and six others.
“Without her dedication, it is quite possible that the World Health Organisation would not have declared Nigeria – the most populous country in Africa – Ebola-free. The significance of her actions, and those of her hospital colleagues, cannot be overstated,” the petition to have the NCDC building named after her reads.
In recognition of her sacrifice, Google on October 27 celebrated Dr Adadevoh with a doodle to mark her 62nd posthumous birthday.
“There is still time to further recognise Adadevoh’s heroism and I believe renaming the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) whose act for establishment has just been signed by President Buhari after Dr Stella Adadevoh House become it is no doubt the biggest tribute Nigeria could ever give her as it would create a culture in which devotion and dedication to one’s vocation is habitual,” Olusegun concluded.
