By Ayomide Otitoju
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats and authorised the immediate release of ₦10 billion to strengthen Nigeria’s emergency response capacity.
The development was announced on Tuesday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
According to Onanuga, the intervention fund will enhance the operational readiness of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and support critical public health emergency response activities across the country.
The newly established task force will be chaired by the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, and will comprise representatives of relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as state governments.
Onanuga said the approval followed a high-level stakeholder meeting chaired by Gbajabiamila to assess Nigeria’s preparedness and develop strategies to prevent the importation of Ebola into the country.
The move comes amid renewed concerns over Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
Participants at the meeting included representatives of the Ministry of Interior, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, the Lagos State Government and other key stakeholders.
The President also directed states hosting international airports and border corridors, along with relevant MDAs, to submit detailed preparedness plans, funding requirements and intervention needs for coordinated implementation.
As part of the response measures, the task force will intensify passenger screening at international airports through enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control procedures.
Authorities will also strengthen monitoring of travellers arriving on routes considered high-risk, including flights operated by Uganda Airlines, RwandAir, Air Tanzania, TAAG Angola Airlines, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.
The government further ordered the immediate activation of referral and isolation centres at the international airports in Lagos and Abuja, with similar facilities to be established at other airports nationwide.
Additional 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 enhanced disinfection of airport facilities, baggage areas, cargo terminals and departure halls.
Tinubu also directed the advisory group to engage security, diplomatic and aviation authorities on the regulation of flights originating from affected and high-risk countries.
The task force has further been mandated to designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights and consider adjustments to flight schedules to minimise interaction between high-risk passengers and other travellers.
