The Federal Government has inaugurated a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease preparedness, saying Nigeria will not wait for an outbreak before taking action.
The move is aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2014 Ebola scare and strengthening national readiness against any possible resurgence of the disease.
Chairman of the Task Force and Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the initiative is a proactive step to ensure Nigeria remains fully prepared.
He spoke with journalists after the inauguration at the State House, Abuja, noting that no Ebola case has been reported in the country.
“We’ve covered a lot of grounds. Right now, there’s no case reported, and that’s good news,” he said.
Gbajabiamila said the government is focused on prevention rather than response to avoid being caught unprepared.
“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.
He explained that several subcommittees had been created to handle surveillance, border control, immigration management, and emergency response.
The task force includes coordination with states hosting international airports such as Lagos, Rivers, Enugu, and the Federal Capital Territory.
Gbajabiamila said collaboration with subnational governments is critical to effective disease prevention.
He also warned that land borders remain a major risk for disease transmission due to cross-border movement.
“We’re putting a lot of emphasis on land borders,” he said.
He added that immigration and border control agencies are working with border communities to strengthen monitoring.
Gbajabiamila said lessons from the 2014 Ebola outbreak have helped improve Nigeria’s preparedness framework.
“What we want is a zero case, as we have now. We want to maintain a zero case,” he said.
Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr. Jide Idris, said surveillance systems have been strengthened nationwide.
He said Nigeria currently has no recorded Ebola case but stressed the need for continued vigilance.
“We need to ensure that we don’t get that Ebola virus here,” Idris said.
He added that emergency response structures are being upgraded to detect and manage any possible case quickly.
Idris said multiple government agencies, including health, interior, education, immigration, and border control, are involved in the preparedness plan.
He described the strategy as a coordinated national effort focused on early detection, rapid response, and effective containment.
