Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
Nigeria is on high alert. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has placed the country on heightened surveillance and activated emergency preparedness measures in ten states and the Federal Capital Territory following the confirmation of an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, a variant for which no licensed vaccine or targeted treatment currently exists.
The NCDC, in an interim public health advisory issued on Tuesday by its Director-General, Dr Jide Idris, announced that travellers arriving from countries with active or relevant Ebola transmission may be required to complete Health Declaration Forms as part of enhanced surveillance and follow-up measures. Passengers from all other countries are currently exempt from completing the form. The agency said Nigeria remained on high alert, adding that all preparatory activities were ongoing and would continue to be reviewed in line with the evolving epidemiological situation. The measures followed an assessment of the evolving outbreak and consultations with public health experts and the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. The advisory was copied to the Federal Ministry of Health, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Port Health Services, and the Nigeria Immigration Service.
The high alert follows the World Health Organization's declaration of the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17, 2026, and the Africa CDC's declaration of a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security a day later. The outbreak, which was first declared by the DRC on May 15, has since spread across the region with alarming speed. As of early June, the Africa CDC reported 681 confirmed cases and 126 deaths. By late May, the WHO had reported over 1,000 suspected cases and 246 suspected deaths. The fatality rate has been estimated at 24.6 per cent. The outbreak has triggered global concern, with suspected cases reported in India and Canada imposing temporary restrictions on certain travel applications involving residents from Uganda, the DRC and South Sudan. Uganda has introduced border control measures of its own.
The NCDC has classified the risk of Ebola importation into Nigeria as high. The assessment reflects increasing regional transmission, international travel, population movement, porous borders, and the potential for delayed recognition because Ebola symptoms may resemble those of malaria and Lassa fever. The Bundibugyo strain is of particular concern because it differs from the more common Zaire Ebola strain, for which existing vaccines and antibody treatments were primarily designed. There are currently no widely available licensed vaccines or approved targeted treatments specifically for the Bundibugyo strain, underscoring the need to intensify infection prevention and control measures.
The agency has placed Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory, Rivers, Kano, Enugu, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Taraba and Adamawa on heightened surveillance, citing their international airports, seaports, border routes and high population mobility. The NCDC said the immediate objective of national preparedness efforts was to ensure that every state and the FCT could reasonably detect, contain and respond swiftly to any suspected case while protecting health workers and sustaining essential health services. Idris disclosed that readiness assessments had been completed in 549 health facilities across 32 states and the FCT, while 17 designated treatment centres were assessed to evaluate screening capacity, isolation readiness, infection prevention and control systems, healthcare worker protection and treatment readiness. The National Emergency Operations Centre has been placed on alert mode, and enhanced national preparedness coordination mechanisms have been activated to strengthen readiness, coordination, information sharing and response efforts. The agency has also completed a national risk stratification exercise, categorising states according to mobility patterns and border connectivity, a risk-based approach guiding preparedness activities across the country.
The Federal Government has moved to bolster the response with significant resources. President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats and ordered the immediate release of N10 billion as emergency intervention funding. The fund will strengthen the operational preparedness of the NCDC and support critical national public health emergency response activities. The task force is chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, with membership drawn from relevant ministries, departments, agencies and state representatives. The President also directed all states hosting international airports and international border corridors to submit their plans, funding requirements and intervention needs for consideration and coordinated implementation. Additional measures being put in place include intensified passenger screening at all international airports, enhanced monitoring of passengers arriving through high-risk airline routes including Air Uganda, Rwanda Air, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, and the activation of referral and isolation centres at Lagos and Abuja international airports. A mandatory QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration system is also being introduced for passengers originating from or transiting through designated high-risk countries.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, said Emergency Operations Centres across states had been placed on standby and were ready to respond. He said personal protective equipment was being pre-positioned for health workers, alerts had been issued, and healthcare workers now maintained a much higher index of suspicion. Cases of fever are now being approached with greater caution than before, with one of the first questions being whether the individual has recently travelled or been exposed to someone who has travelled from an affected area. Salako said surveillance had been strengthened at ports and points of entry, with port health services working in collaboration with agencies responsible for airports, seaports and land borders. He expressed confidence that Nigeria was well-positioned to prevent the importation of Ebola into the country.
Nigeria's preparedness level, however, currently stands at 59 per cent, according to the NCDC Director-General. The figure reflects the reality that while significant measures have been put in place, gaps remain, particularly around border porosity and the challenge of detecting a disease whose early symptoms mimic those of more common illnesses. The NCDC has urged state governments to activate their preparedness mechanisms and ensure emergency response structures are fully operational, while appealing to Nigerians to remain calm and avoid misinformation about the virus. Drawing on Nigeria's experience during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, which the country successfully contained and which became a global reference point for epidemic control, Idris said lessons from previous outbreaks have shown that early detection, rapid isolation, infection prevention and control, contact tracing, risk communication and effective emergency coordination remain the most effective tools for preventing transmission and saving lives. For now, there is no confirmed case of Ebola in Nigeria. But the NCDC is not waiting for one.
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