President Bola Tinubu has set up a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease preparedness and approved the immediate release of ₦10 billion in emergency intervention funding to strengthen Nigeria’s response capacity amid renewed regional concerns.
According to The Punch, the move follows a rapidly escalating outbreak in parts of Central and East Africa, which has killed at least 349 people across the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
The World Health Organisation has already declared the situation a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the task force will be chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and will include representatives from key ministries, departments, agencies, and state governments.
According to the statement, the ₦10 billion intervention will be deployed to boost the operational readiness of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and support broader national emergency health response systems.
The task force was established after a high-level stakeholder meeting convened by Gbajabiamila to assess Nigeria’s preparedness for a possible cross-border health threat.
The meeting included officials from the Ministry of Interior, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, and the Lagos State Government, among others.
Onanuga further disclosed that Tinubu ordered the “intensification of passenger screening at all international airports, including enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control protocols, and enhanced monitoring of passengers arriving on high-risk airline routes, including Air Uganda, RwandAir, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, all carriers with direct or connecting services from the affected region.”
He also directed the immediate activation of referral and isolation centres at Lagos and Abuja international airports, with other airports to follow, alongside the mandatory use of QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for travellers coming from or transiting through designated high-risk countries.
Additional measures include the disinfection of airport terminals, cargo sections, and baggage handling areas as part of preventive environmental safety protocols.
The President further instructed the task force to designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights to ensure controlled screening and isolation processes, while also reviewing possible adjustments to flight schedules to reduce contact between high-risk passengers and other travellers.
He also mandated consultations with security, diplomatic, and aviation authorities on the possibility of regulating air traffic from affected regions.
State governments hosting international airports and border corridors were also directed, alongside relevant MDAs, to submit their preparedness plans, funding requirements, and intervention needs for coordinated implementation.
The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus—a strain of Ebola—was first confirmed on May 15, 2026, in Ituri Province of the DRC before spreading to Uganda following a confirmed case in Kampala.
By June 7, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported 515 confirmed cases and 91 confirmed deaths, with 283 patients currently isolated. Earlier data from May 29 had placed suspected cases at 1,037 with 349 deaths.
Health experts note that unlike earlier Ebola strains, there is currently no licensed vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo variant, although early supportive care significantly improves survival chances.
Previous outbreaks of this strain recorded fatality rates between 30 and 50 per cent.
Nigeria’s last major encounter with Ebola came during the 2014 West African outbreak, when the country recorded 20 confirmed cases and eight deaths after infected Liberian-American diplomat Patrick Sawyer arrived at Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
