Nigerian Govt sets up presidential task force against Ebola

The Federal Government of Nigeria has constituted a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness.

Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, inaugurated the task force on Thursday in Abuja, with the aim of taking action early to prevent an outbreak and to avoid a repeat of the 2014 Ebola crisis.

“We did the inauguration today on the preparedness of Nigeria for the Ebola virus disease. We’ve covered a lot of ground. 

“Right now, there’s no reported case, which is good news, and that’s why all hands have to be on deck to make sure the measures we are taking are preventive, not curative,” he said.

Gbajabiamila stressed that the government wants to be proactive rather than waiting for an outbreak to happen.

“We don’t want to be in the situation we were last time, where we had a carrier in the country and we’re all running helter-skelter,” he added.

According to him, the group has created special teams to handle different areas, including tracking diseases, managing border control, and coordinating emergency responses.

He further explained that while previous safety efforts focused mostly on airports, the new task force is putting extra focus on monitoring land borders and informal travel routes. 

He noted that they are now covering more ground because there is a lot of cross-migration through land borders, involving immigration, the Border Control Development Agency, and local border communities.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, confirmed that health checkpoints have already been strengthened at major entry points.

He explained that the new plan links several government ministries and state authorities together to ensure the country does not get the virus.