President Bola Tinubu has ordered the immediate release of N10 billion as emergency intervention funding to strengthen Nigeria’s preparedness against Ebola and other emerging public health threats.
Ebola has recently resurfaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, both neighbouring countries.
Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the President on information and strategy, said in a statement on Tuesday that Tinubu also approved the establishment of a presidential task force (PTF) on Ebola virus disease preparedness and emerging public health threats.
Onanuga said the fund will strengthen the operational preparedness of the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and support critical national public health emergency response activities.
The presidential spokesperson said the PTF on Ebola will be chaired by Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President, with membership drawn from relevant ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) and state representatives.
“The President’s approval followed a stakeholder meeting convened under the chairmanship of the Chief of Staff to review Nigeria’s preparedness and develop strategies against the possible importation of Ebola into Nigeria,” the statement reads.
“Other critical stakeholders at the meeting included representatives from the Ministry of Interior, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Lagos State Government, and others.”
He said Tinubu also directed all states hosting international airports and international border corridors, as well as relevant MDAs, to submit their plans, funding requirements, and intervention needs for consideration and coordinated implementation.
Onanuga said the task force is expected to intensify passenger screening at all international airports, including enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control protocols.
“The task force is also expected to enhance monitoring of passengers arriving through high-risk airline routes, notably Air Uganda, RwandAir, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways, and Ethiopian Airlines, and immediately activate referral and isolation centres at Lagos and Abuja international airports, with other airports to follow,” he added.
“Other measures include mandatory activation of QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for passengers originating from or transiting through designated high-risk countries, and disinfection of departure halls, cargo areas, baggage sections, and airport facilities as precautionary environmental measures.
“The President mandated that the advisory group consult with security, diplomatic, and aviation bodies with a view to regulating flights from affected and designated high-risk countries.
“The task force is further directed to designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights to enable controlled screening and isolation procedures, and to consider adjusting flight timings to minimise interaction between high-risk passengers and others.”
On Sunday, the NCDC said Nigeria has not recorded any confirmed cases of Ebola, but the country is 59% prepared for any eventual outbreak of the virus.
On June 3, Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said the Democratic Republic of the Congo has recorded 344 confirmed cases, including 60 deaths, across 24 health zones in the Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces.
He said Uganda has recorded one confirmed death and 15 cases linked to the outbreak, including a Congolese resident who travelled through the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before entering the country.
According to the WHO, the Ebola virus refers to a group of viruses in the Ebolavirus genus that cause Ebola disease, a severe and often fatal viral haemorrhagic fever.
Common symptoms include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea, and, in some cases, internal and external bleeding.
Ebola is a zoonotic disease that can spread from animals to humans and is transmitted between people through direct contact with the blood, urine, saliva, sweat, and semen of infected persons, particularly when they are symptomatic or have died from the disease.
The first major global outbreak occurred between 2014 and 2016, mainly in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, with limited cases reported in Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, as well as in Europe and the United States.
During the outbreak, more than 28,600 cases and about 11,300 deaths were recorded, according to WHO data.
