Nigeria 59% Prepared for Ebola Outbreak — NCDC

Nigeria is only 59 percent prepared to manage a potential Ebola outbreak, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr. Jide Idris, has said.

Addressing a press briefing in Lagos on Friday, Idris said while the country cannot claim to be fully prepared for a disease outbreak of that scale, the mechanisms already in place are strong enough to stop transmission if the virus enters Nigeria.

“We cannot be 100 percent prepared. It is not possible — not even America can claim that,” Idris said. “But let me be frank with you: if Ebola comes into Nigeria, we will stop it with the current knowledge and systems we have now.”

The NCDC boss said Nigeria had already classified the risk of Ebola importation as high because of increasing international travel, population movement, and the country’s porous borders.

According to him, the Federal Government has intensified surveillance and emergency preparedness measures nationwide, particularly at international airports and major border entry points.

“For Nigeria, our main focus is on points of entry. What we have done is strengthen surveillance at these points,” he stated.

Surveillance systems are currently active at the country’s five international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Enugu, and Port Harcourt, with Port Health officials, aviation agencies, immigration officers, and state governments working together to monitor travellers arriving from affected countries.

Idris disclosed that passengers from high-risk countries are subjected to screening procedures and mandatory health declaration forms before boarding flights into Nigeria.

“The idea is not to allow the disease to enter the country in the first place,” he explained.

He acknowledged major challenges confronting the country’s preparedness efforts, including a shortage of health workers and limited laboratory capacity to test for Ebola.

“The laboratories are expensive, maintaining them is expensive, and training the right personnel is also expensive,” Idris said. “That is why the system has been tiered.”

Designated laboratories capable of testing for Ebola include the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja, the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), and some private laboratories with genomic testing capabilities.