Nigeria’s preparedness for a potential Ebola outbreak currently stands at 59%, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr Jide Idris, has disclosed.
Speaking in an interview with Arise News on Monday, Dr Idris admitted that while the country is strengthening surveillance and response capabilities amid regional outbreaks, critical gaps remain — particularly at points of entry.
“Our recent latest level of assessment puts us at about 59%. But that’s quite variable. You can’t be 100% prepared, but the essence is that we keep preparing because things change,” he said.
The NCDC chief revealed that a dynamic risk assessment was conducted to evaluate the country’s readiness, identify vulnerabilities, and bolster mechanisms to prevent importation of the virus. Points of entry, especially airports, were highlighted as key areas of focus, with the Federal Ministry of Health issuing new protocols for tighter controls on international arrivals.
However, Dr Idris identified Nigeria’s porous land borders as a major challenge, noting that travellers entering by road pose significant surveillance difficulties.
He drew lessons from Nigeria’s successful containment of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, stressing the importance of early detection, rapid isolation of cases, contact tracing, laboratory diagnosis, and protection of healthcare workers.
“To be frank, we are not 100% ready, but we are improving our readiness,” Idris added. The NCDC is currently assessing infrastructure, isolation centres, emergency operations centres, and stockpiles across states, while expanding laboratory capacity, training health workers, and enhancing public awareness.
The alert comes as Nigeria battles multiple ongoing disease outbreaks, including cholera and Lassa fever. No confirmed Ebola case has been recorded in the country so far.
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