Nigeria is only 59 per cent ready for a possible Ebola outbreak, its disease control agency said on Monday, warning that porous land borders raise importation risk across West Africa.
Dr. Jide Idris, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), disclosed the figure during an interview on Arise Television. A nationwide risk assessment exposed critical gaps, he said, particularly at the country’s points of entry.
“To be frank, we are not fully ready, but we are continuously improving,” Idris said.
The NCDC deployed advisers to work with state authorities, assessing isolation centres, emergency operations centres, infrastructure and medical stockpiles. The agency classified states hosting international airports as high risk areas and pressed for urgent upgrades where gaps appeared.
Idris said the borders pose the toughest challenge, because many travellers enter through informal routes that evade screening. He added that the Federal Ministry of Health has issued fresh protocols to tighten monitoring at airports and other gateways.
The warning lands as the wider region stays on alert. Outbreaks in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, driven by the Bundibugyo strain, prompted the World Health Organisation to declare a public health emergency of international concern in May.
Ghana has recorded no case but has stepped up surveillance at its airports, seaports and land borders. Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh activated national emergency protocols and inspected screening systems in Accra in late May.
Health authorities across the region still cite the 2014 outbreak, which killed thousands in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, as a reminder of how fast the virus crosses weak borders. Nigeria contained its cases that year and now treats early detection as the core of its response.
