The Senate has sounded an urgent national alarm over critical gaps in Nigeria’s public health emergency preparedness following the confirmation of a COVID-19 case in Cross River State, warning that systemic weaknesses in disease surveillance, essential supply stockpiles, and funding flows could expose the country to a rapidly spreading outbreak if immediate corrective action was not taken.
The resolution followed adoption of a motion sponsored by Senator Ipalibo Harry Banigo, who disclosed that the confirmed case involved a 53-year-old foreign national who entered Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on March 17, 2026, travelled to Calabar the same day, developed symptoms on April 12, and tested positive on April 16 following laboratory confirmation at the national reference facility.
She expressed serious alarm over epidemiological findings indicating a timeline that extended beyond the normal incubation period for the virus, raising the possibility that local transmission had already occurred. She added that additional suspected cases had been identified, with contact tracing and laboratory investigations actively underway.
The senator warned that Nigeria’s ability to contain an outbreak was being severely compromised by critical shortages of viral transport media, polymerase chain reaction reagents, rapid test kits, and personal protective equipment. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control had also been constrained by delayed budget releases, procurement bottlenecks, and inadequate capital funding stretching back to 2025.
She cautioned that the identified gaps could result in delayed containment, cross-state transmission, and heightened risks to frontline health workers already operating without adequate protective equipment, and warned that persistent shortages could erode public confidence and weaken the country’s epidemic intelligence systems precisely when they were most critically needed.
Following deliberations, the Senate urged the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC to intensify nationwide surveillance, testing, and contact tracing, and called on the Federal Ministry of Finance to expedite the release of funds while considering the activation of emergency financing mechanisms. The NCDC was directed to submit a comprehensive national preparedness report covering stockpiles, laboratory capacity, and surveillance gaps, while state governments were urged to urgently boost subnational preparedness through increased funding and enhanced support for rapid response systems.
