Tinubu Orders Emergency Ebola Task Force as Africa Outbreak Triggers Border Alert

(President Bola Tinubu. Photo credit: Daily Post)

President Bola Tinubu has established a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and approved the immediate release of N10 billion in emergency intervention funding, following a rapidly expanding outbreak that has claimed at least 349 lives across the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

The World Health Organisation has declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

According to a statement 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, with membership drawn from relevant ministries, departments, agencies, and state representatives.

The N10 billion released will strengthen the operational capacity of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and support critical national public health emergency response activities.

The task force was constituted following a stakeholder meeting convened by Gbajabiamila, attended by representatives 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.

President Tinubu directed the intensification of passenger screening at all international airports, including enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control protocols, as well as heightened 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 ordered the immediate activation of referral and isolation centres at Lagos and Abuja international airports, with other airports to follow, and the mandatory activation of QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for passengers originating from or transiting through designated high-risk countries.

The disinfection of departure halls, cargo areas, baggage sections, and airport facilities was equally directed as a precautionary measure.

The President further directed the task force to designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights to enable controlled screening and isolation procedures, and to consider adjusting flight timings to minimise interaction between high-risk passengers and other travellers.

He also mandated consultation with security, diplomatic, and aviation bodies on the possibility of regulating flights from affected countries.

All states hosting international airports and border corridors, as well as relevant government agencies, were directed to immediately submit their plans, funding requirements, and intervention needs for coordinated implementation.

The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a species of Ebola first confirmed in DRC’s Ituri Province on May 15, 2026, before spreading to Uganda after a case was confirmed in Kampala.

As of June 7, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported 515 confirmed cases and 91 confirmed deaths, with 283 individuals in isolation. By May 29, the total suspected case count had risen to 1,037 with 349 deaths.

Unlike earlier Ebola strains, there is currently no licensed vaccine or specific therapeutic agent against the Bundibugyo virus, though early supportive care has been shown to be lifesaving. Case fatality rates in previous Bundibugyo outbreaks ranged between 30 and 50 per cent.

Nigeria’s last significant encounter with Ebola dates back to 2014, during the West African epidemic, when the country recorded 20 confirmed cases and eight deaths following the arrival of an infected Liberian-American diplomat at Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport.