By Ibrahim Kegbegbe
President Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate release of N10 billion as emergency intervention funds to boost Nigeria’s readiness against Ebola and other emerging public health threats amid renewed outbreaks of the disease in parts of Africa.
The approval follows recent reports of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, announced that Tinubu had also authorised the establishment of a Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Ebola Virus Disease preparedness and emerging health threats.
According to Onanuga, the intervention fund is aimed at strengthening the operational capacity of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and supporting critical public health emergency response activities across the country.
He disclosed that the task force would be chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and would comprise representatives of relevant ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), as well as state government 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 said.
Among participants at the meeting were officials 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 other stakeholders.
Tinubu also directed states with international airports and international border corridors, along with relevant MDAs, to submit their preparedness plans, funding requirements and intervention needs for coordinated implementation.
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Onanuga stated that the newly inaugurated task force would intensify screening procedures at international airports through enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control measures.
He added that authorities would strengthen surveillance of passengers arriving through high-risk air routes, including Air Uganda, RwandAir, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.
The task force, he said, has also been directed to immediately activate referral and isolation centres at the Lagos and Abuja international airports, while similar facilities would be established at other airports subsequently.
Other measures include the mandatory deployment of QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for passengers travelling from or transiting through designated high-risk countries, as well as the disinfection of departure halls, cargo sections, baggage areas and other airport facilities.
According to the presidential spokesman, The Merit Newspaper reports that Tinubu further instructed the advisory group to engage security agencies, diplomatic channels and aviation authorities on possible regulations concerning flights from affected and designated high-risk countries.
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He said the task force would also designate specific terminals or airports for high-risk flights to ensure controlled screening and isolation procedures and consider adjusting flight schedules to reduce contact between high-risk passengers and others.
Nigeria Yet to Record Ebola Case
Meanwhile, the NCDC announced on Sunday that no confirmed case of Ebola has been recorded in Nigeria, although the country currently stands at 59 per cent preparedness for any potential outbreak.
On June 3, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, revealed that the Democratic Republic of Congo had recorded 344 confirmed cases and 60 deaths across 24 health zones in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.
He also disclosed that Uganda had recorded one confirmed death and 15 cases linked to the outbreak, including a Congolese resident who travelled through the United Arab Emirates before entering the country.
The WHO describes Ebola virus as a group of viruses within the Ebolavirus genus that causes Ebola disease, a severe and often fatal viral haemorrhagic fever.
Symptoms commonly associated with the disease include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
Ebola is a zoonotic disease capable of spreading from animals to humans and is transmitted among people through direct contact with bodily fluids such as blood, urine, saliva, sweat and semen, especially when infected individuals are symptomatic or have died from the illness.
The most devastating Ebola outbreak occurred between 2014 and 2016, primarily affecting Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with isolated cases also reported in Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Europe and the United States.
According to WHO statistics, the outbreak resulted in more than 28,600 cases and approximately 11,300 deaths.
