President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats and ordered the immediate release of ₦10bn as emergency intervention funding.
The fund will strengthen the operational readiness of the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and support critical national public health emergency response activities.
A statement by presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said the task force will be chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, with members drawn from relevant ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), as well as state representatives.
Ebola has recently resurfaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, both neighboring countries.
According to the statement, the approval followed a stakeholder meeting convened under the chairmanship of the Chief of Staff to review Nigeria’s preparedness and develop strategies against possible importation of the virus.
Other 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, among others.
President Tinubu also directed all states hosting international airports and border corridors, as well as relevant MDAs, to submit their preparedness plans, funding requirements and intervention needs for coordinated implementation.
Additional measures to be implemented by the task force include intensified passenger screening at all international airports, including enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control protocols; enhanced monitoring of passengers arriving through high-risk airline routes, including Air Uganda, RwandAir, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines; and immediate activation of referral and isolation centres at Lagos and Abuja international airports, with other airports to follow.
Others include mandatory activation of QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for passengers from or transiting high-risk countries, as well as disinfection of departure halls, cargo areas, baggage zones and airport facilities.
The President also mandated the advisory group to consult with security, diplomatic and aviation bodies on regulating flights from affected countries.
The task force is further directed to designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights to ensure controlled screening and isolation procedures, and to consider adjusting flight schedules to reduce contact between high-risk passengers and others.
