The Director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Doctor Jide Idris, has said Nigeria’s preparedness level against a possible Ebola outbreak currently stands at 59%, as health authorities intensify border surveillance and response measures amid growing regional concerns over the disease.
Dr Idris, who was also a former Lagos State Commissioner for Health, said this while speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, following recent reports from the World Health Organisation, warning that ebola has taken an international dimension in terms of international safety.
He said: “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 added that a dynamic risk assessment had been conducted to evaluate the country’s readiness, identify gaps and strengthen key response pillars, including surveillance, early detection, isolation of suspected cases and contact tracing.
“We did a dynamic risk assessment for Nigeria basically to assess our level of preparedness, where we are, what gaps we need to cover, and then what we need to do. And very clearly, one area that came out was the point of entry, which is crucial. Because the essence—the objective—is that we should not allow this thing to come into this country.”
Highlighting preparedness measures taken by health authorities in the country, Dr Idris said:
“Luckily, a day or two after, there was a protocol released by the Federal Ministry of Health to be adhered to by different agencies of government.
“The essence of that is to control traffic into this country, especially traffic from airlines—from those airlines that were bringing patients here. That’s one. You can do the air traffic, and that’s why some states were categorized as high risk. Those states are where you have international airports, because that’s where people come in.”
He, however, noted that Nigeria’s porous land borders pose a greater challenge, as people also enter the country through road routes, making sustained preparedness and surveillance essential.
“But the biggest one again is our borders—porous borders. Not everybody comes in by air. You have people migrating by road and that kind of thing. These are the scares, and that’s why again it’s essential for us to prepare,” he stressed.
Citing the Ebola outbreak in 2014, Dr. Idris said Nigeria’s past experience in 2014 showed the importance of early detection, rapid isolation of suspected cases, effective contact tracing and strong laboratory diagnosis, supported by the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control.
“2014 was interesting because we had never had that experience before. But we were lucky to have the experience of the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control, who actually provided guidance. At the start, nobody knew what the problem was, but again, we learned as we were going along,” he said.
He added that the lessons learned from the 2014 Ebola outbreak remain highly relevant and can still be applied today to strengthen Nigeria’s response to any potential resurgence of the disease.
“Basically, it’s the basic things they taught us that we need to put in place:
“Ability to detect: Once you detect, you must isolate the patient. Because, you know, the mode of spread of Ebola is by contact.
“Preventing contact: Once you can prevent that contact, I think we are reasonably okay. And preventing that contact means you need to protect yourself, you need to protect the healthcare workers, and you need to put in place facilities for sanitization.
“Isolation facilities: You need to put in place facilities where you can isolate people with suspected cases.
“Rapid diagnosis: Once you suspect cases, you must be able to do the diagnosis quickly—laboratory diagnosis and that kind of thing.
“A lot of these things we put in place, and they actually guided us. So: detection, isolation, contact tracing—those are the key things,” he outlined.
On Nigeria’s preparedness for a possible Ebola emergency, Dr. Idris said the country is not yet fully ready but is gradually strengthening its response capacity through nationwide assessments of isolation centres, laboratories and emergency response systems.
“To be frank, we are not 100% ready, but we are improving our readiness. This is a readiness that has to cover the whole country. Now, what we are doing is that we’ve done an assessment of our situation. We sent people out to do assessments—we sent advisors to State Commissioners to do an assessment of readiness, guiding them on what to do. Look at things like infrastructure, isolation centers, public health emergency operation centers, and what kind of stockpiles they have just in case they have these cases,” he explained.
The director-general of the NCDC further said efforts are ongoing to strengthen preparedness through training, laboratory upgrades and public awareness to reduce outbreak risks.
“Over the years again, we’ve expanded on what we have, especially the laboratory system. The idea is to extend that capacity to some laboratories, especially those where they have a contingency for international travel. So, we are going to optimize their level of preparedness by training staff, providing reagents, providing PPEs, and telling them what to do. Standard operating procedures are key. Because, like I said, if you don’t follow those procedures, you might be at risk as a healthcare worker. One more important thing is public enlightenment,” he underscored.
Speaking on the persistent rise of Lassa fever cases in Nigeria, Dr. Idris said the disease remains a recurring public health challenge due to its seasonal nature, rodent carriers and risky human behaviours such as bushmeat consumption.
“Aside from Lassa fever, we are managing about seven to eight outbreaks in this country right now. Cholera is there, it’s killing people. Now, Lassa fever is seasonal, and each one of them has what they call carriers or reservoirs. Lassa fever is interesting because it’s carried by rats—specific rats in some areas.”
He noted that cultural practices in some affected communities continue to fuel transmission despite ongoing awareness efforts.
“It’s interesting, but again, everything has to do with our culture, our tradition, and our health-seeking behaviors. In those areas, people regard these rats as delicacies. And there’s no amount of approach to tell them like, ‘Don’t do this, you are going to kill yourself,’ that works. Especially bushmeat. I had the opportunity of going to Ondo State a couple of months ago regarding Lassa fever, and what I saw was interesting because of the practices of the people.
Urging immediate control of the situation, Dr. Idris called for stronger state-level leadership and improved public health practices to curb the spread of Lassa fever.
“And this is where, again, it brings me to: everybody relies on the Federal Government. The State Governments need to take leadership of this,” he urged.
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