Visiting the vandalized site to assess the extent of damage caused by the angry youth in Calabar on Friday, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Betta Edu said she was disappointed with the destruction and looting.

While expressing shock that most youths engage in the acts, the commissioner asked people to be very careful, adding that the infectious disease samples all carted away have put everyone at high risk.

“How can you steal HIV drugs and TB drugs that are given free of charge? What will you do with it? How can you steal highly infectious TB samples, COVID-19 samples HIV samples, carried refrigerators with these samples in them to their homes and families?

“Why will you want to kill yourselves or family members and have an outbreak of diseases in your communities? How do you see a mentally challenged person or a sick person (who is vulnerable) throw them off the hospital bed and take the mattresses?

“This is not who we are as a people and this is definitely not what the Nigerian youth represent. As we know, the #EndSARS protest was seen as a fair by many but it has now degenerated into a high level of criminality with hoodlums and enemies of the state hijacking the protest,” she said.