The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says it has scaled up its preparedness against Ebola Virus Disease, even though no case has been confirmed in the country.
Director General Olajide Idris gave the update at the 15th Expanded Ministerial Oversight Committee meeting in Abuja, saying the agency had switched on surveillance systems, deepened coordination with other bodies and assessed treatment and laboratory facilities to strengthen national readiness.
He said response work began before the Presidential Ebola Task Force was even reconstituted, noting that the agency did not wait for the body, which has met only once, but started acting as soon as the outbreak was reported abroad. The NCDC, he said, was working with Port Health Services, aviation authorities, Immigration and Customs to tighten checks at entry points, with an initial focus on five states that have international airports.
Idris said the Health Ministry had issued entry protocols requiring arriving travelers to complete health declaration forms, and that persons of interest were being documented and monitored, with their destination states alerted for follow-up. He acknowledged implementation difficulties but said the system would keep improving.
He disclosed that N785.3 million had received express executive approval for Ebola readiness, with a State Ebola Readiness Plan finalized and disbursements to states well advanced. However, he expressed concern that many laboratories and isolation centers built during the COVID-19 pandemic were in a dilapidated state, some abandoned and in need of urgent rehabilitation, with unreliable electricity causing wastage of reagents.
