President Goodluck Jonathan said that he has ordered for a comprehensive intervention by the federal ministry of health to communities ravaged by the cholera epidemic in some parts of the North.

"Already, drugs and vaccines have been flown into the affected areas and camps are now being set up for free treatment of those affected beginning with women and children," Jonathan said yesterday in a posting on his Facebook page.

He said, "to prevent a recurrence even while we are containing the outbreak, I have instructed the ministry of health and some of my aides to come up with a plan for assisting the affected states, provide basic toilet facilities and expand access to safe drinking water in these communities which is the root cause of the epidemic."

The president said the federal ministry of water resources will also be instructed to energize current plans to extend the availability of pipe-borne water to areas affected by the outbreak and other areas.

On the recent lead poisoning cases in Zamfara State, Jonathan said the government launched a clampdown on illegal mining sites and successfully closed them down which led to a rapid drop in the cases from April 2010.

He said the federal ministry of health has worked with international agencies to open two treatment camps to provide free treatment to the victims, adding that the Federal Government has sent epidemiologists from Abuja to train and enlighten the state ministry of health officials for onward passage to the local people in their languages.

Jonathan also pledged that his administration will remain alive to its responsibility and "continue to act in ways that indicate to you that your lives have value and government has no option but to protect and defend it."