Precious Nwonu, Enugu
The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr Jide Idris, has explained that the N10bn emergency intervention approved by President Bola Tinubu was intended to strengthen the country’s response to several epidemic-prone diseases, not just Ebola.
Idris said the funding was designed to improve disease prevention, preparedness, early detection and rapid response to public health emergencies, including Lassa fever, cholera, cerebrospinal meningitis, diphtheria, measles, mpox and antimicrobial resistance.
He also clarified that the money was released directly to the NCDC and not to the Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease, contrary to claims surrounding the allocation.
The clarification comes amid public debate over the intervention fund. At a press conference on Sunday, October 25, 2026, Idris had told journalists that the N10bn had not yet been released to the agency. However, he did not state when the funds were subsequently disbursed.
The NCDC director-general maintained that the allocation was insufficient to meet Nigeria’s growing health security needs, disclosing that the implementation of the National Action Plan for Health Security (2025–2029) would require approximately N522bn over five years.
He said the plan would cost an average of N104.4bn annually, meaning the N10bn intervention represents only about two per cent of the yearly requirement.
According to Idris, Nigeria’s population of more than 240 million requires sustained financial commitments from federal and state governments, as well as development partners, to strengthen protection against epidemic threats.
Giving a breakdown of government funding, he said the NCDC received N4bn in 2024 and N7bn in 2025, alongside an additional N5bn intervention fund that year. The agency’s allocation under the 2026 Appropriation is N22bn.
Idris disclosed that Tinubu approved the additional N10bn in June 2026 following an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which attracted international concern.
He stressed that the funding request covered all epidemic-prone diseases and was not limited to the Ebola response.
“In June 2026, as the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo became a global emergency, Mr President graciously approved a further N10 billion in emergency intervention funding. That fund was requested for all our epidemic-prone diseases, not Ebola alone, and now strengthens work already underway, as we had mobilised resources from government and partners and kept building,” he said.
The NCDC chief further cited estimates by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, which indicate that countries need between $1 and $2 per person annually to achieve an acceptable level of epidemic preparedness.
Based on Nigeria’s estimated population of 240 million, he said the country would require between $240m and $480m annually to meet that benchmark.
Idris attributed the funding gap partly to the tendency of public investment to favour projects with immediate and visible results, rather than preventive health measures.
He called for the discussion surrounding the N10bn allocation to focus on the need for sustained investment in national health security, warning that the financial and human costs of poorly managed outbreaks could exceed the cost of preparing for them.
On the Ebola situation, Idris confirmed that Nigeria recorded its first imported case of Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease, with laboratory confirmation on October 20, 2026, less than 24 hours after the alert was received in Abuja.
He, however, said there was no active case in the country at the time of his statement, adding that identified contacts were being monitored daily.
According to him, surveillance would continue until the last identified contact completed the mandatory 21-day monitoring period without developing symptoms or any new case being detected.
The NCDC director-general also ruled out the need for postponing elections, restricting travel or imposing a blanket ban on mass gatherings, saying the prevailing situation did not justify such measures.
He disclosed that the agency had developed technical guidelines for organisers of public gatherings, noting that events could proceed safely if appropriate infection prevention and control measures were observed.
Idris urged Nigerians to avoid circulating unverified information, warning that misinformation and the politicisation of public health emergencies could weaken public confidence and undermine efforts to contain disease outbreaks.