Senior government officials held a strategic meeting on Thursday in Victoria Island to discuss a preparedness plan for the Ebola response in the country.
The meeting, led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, also had in attendance the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Jide Idris; the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; and the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, among others.
The Chief of Staff to the President says there will be a possible restriction of flights from affected countries and also isolation of passengers with Ebola symptoms.
Gbajabiamila added that President Bola Tinubu has been briefed about the current situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, and the Federal Government will do all it can to ensure that no case of Ebola is recorded in Nigeria.
The Minister of Interior also says all points of entry will be guarded to prevent any outbreak, and the Nigeria Immigration Service will be working closely with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to safeguard public health and strengthen the country’s capacity for early detection and rapid response.
READ ALSO: Ebola: Eastern DRC Now Faces Catastrophic Collision Of Disease, Conflict — WHO
“At the Ministry of Interior, our focus remains firm on border control and robust screening at all points of entry: airports, seaports, and land borders. We are enhancing monitoring and surveillance protocols using available technology and structured decision-making mechanisms to prevent the virus from entering the country,” he wrote in a statement on his X handle.
“As a government, we will continue to work seamlessly as a team with state governments, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, and all relevant agencies to ensure this threat does not rear its ugly head in our dear nation.
“Together, drawing lessons from our successful containment of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, we are confident that Nigeria will once again rise to the challenge and protect our country.”
On his part, the NCDC DG warned that there is no cure or vaccine for the Ebola virus, and health workers who are more exposed to the disease will be constantly enlightened about the virus.
Idris, however, said that a preparedness plan is also in place across the 36 states, and each of the states will be educating the public about the response plan
He affirmed that all necessary precautionary measures have been activated to strengthen national preparedness and response systems.
