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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has declared that the N10 billion emergency intervention fund approved by President Bola Tinubu is grossly inadequate to address the country’s growing public health security needs, revealing that Nigeria requires N104.4 billion annually to effectively prevent, detect and respond to Ebola and other epidemic-prone diseases.
The agency said the country’s National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS 2.0), covering 2025 to 2029, would require N522 billion over five years, making sustained investment in epidemic preparedness critical to protecting Nigerians against infectious disease outbreaks.
NCDC Director-General, Dr Jide Idris, who disclosed this in a statement on Monday, clarified that the N10 billion intervention fund was not earmarked exclusively for Ebola Virus Disease but was intended to strengthen the country’s preparedness and response capacity against multiple public health threats.
He explained that the intervention represented approximately two per cent of the average annual cost of implementing the national health security plan, stressing that the amount should not be regarded as excessive considering the scale of the country’s epidemic preparedness requirements.
According to him, the funding would support disease prevention, surveillance, early detection, emergency response and recovery efforts against infectious diseases, including Lassa fever, cholera, cerebrospinal meningitis, diphtheria, measles, Mpox and Ebola, as well as antimicrobial resistance.
Idris clarified that the N10 billion was released directly to the NCDC and not to the Presidential Task Force on Ebola, chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, explaining that while the task force was established to coordinate the national response to Ebola, the agency had wider responsibilities for protecting the country against infectious disease threats.
Giving details of government funding, the NCDC boss said the agency’s allocation increased from N4 billion in 2024 to N7 billion in 2025, followed by a separate N5 billion intervention fund in the same year. He added that the 2026 Appropriation provided N22 billion for the agency, while President Tinubu approved another N10 billion emergency intervention fund in June 2026 following an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Idris cited estimates by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board indicating that countries required between $1 and $2 per person annually to achieve acceptable levels of epidemic preparedness.
For Nigeria’s estimated population of 240 million, he said the recommended investment translated to between $240 million and $480 million annually, underscoring the need for sustained financial commitments from the federal and state governments, alongside support from development partners. He expressed concern that inadequate investment in epidemic preparedness remained a global challenge, particularly because governments frequently prioritised programmes with immediate and visible benefits over preventive interventions whose impact might not become apparent until a public health emergency occurred.
On the Ebola situation, Idris said Nigeria had no active case following the confirmation of an imported Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease case on October 20, but warned that the country could not yet be considered completely free of risk.
He explained that contact tracing and monitoring would continue until the last identified contact had completed the mandatory 21-day observation period without the detection of another case.
The NCDC Director-General, however, dismissed suggestions that the prevailing public health situation warranted postponement of elections, prohibition of mass gatherings or restrictions on movement and international travel.
He maintained that the agency had not recommended any of those measures, explaining that technical guidelines had been developed to assist organisers of mass gatherings in complying with infection prevention and control protocols.
Idris cautioned against misinformation and the politicisation of public health emergencies, stressing that epidemic preparedness and response should be treated as matters of national security rather than political controversy.
He assured Nigerians that the NCDC would continue to uphold transparency, accountability and prudent management of public resources while strengthening the country’s capacity to prevent and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.
