The Federal Government has announced plans to impose restrictions on flights from countries affected by Ebola as part of measures to prevent an outbreak in Nigeria.
The Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, disclosed this on Thursday after a high-level strategic meeting held in Victoria Island, Lagos, to review Nigeria’s Ebola preparedness and response mechanism.
The meeting was attended by key government officials, including the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Jide Idris, and the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Gbajabiamila, who led the meeting, said the proposed restrictions would be considered alongside other preventive measures, including the isolation of passengers showing symptoms consistent with Ebola infection at the country’s points of entry.
He said President Tinubu had been briefed on the situation and stressed that the government was determined to ensure that Nigeria does not record any case of the disease.
“We have a health scare, which is Ebola, and we all know what happened the last time. The cases are getting worse, internationally and worldwide, and we don’t want to leave anything to chance,” he said.
“There were three or four areas we looked at. We looked at the issue of the possibility, as of now, of restricting flights from countries of interest. We looked at the possibilities of isolating passengers who may exhibit symptoms of Ebola.”
Gbajabiamila added that the government could also consider using isolation facilities or cargo terminals to manage passengers arriving from affected countries.
“We believe that prevention is better than cure, and where some passengers slip through the cracks, then we must have ways of dealing with situations such as that,” he added.
On his part, the Minister of Interior, Tunji-Ojo, said all points of entry into Nigeria would be placed under strict monitoring to prevent a possible outbreak.
He said the Nigeria Immigration Service would strengthen collaboration with the NCDC to improve early detection and rapid response measures at airports, seaports and land borders.
The NCDC Director-General, Dr Idris, warned that Ebola remains a severe viral disease with no known cure or approved vaccine for the strain currently spreading.
He said Nigeria’s preparedness plan covers all state governments and ports of entry, adding that the country’s best defence remains early detection, isolation, public enlightenment, infection prevention and control.
“We have our preparedness plan; it’s covering all state governments, all ports of entry. This particular virus has no treatment, no vaccines. So it’s the public health measures that need to be done, isolation, quick detection, public enlightenment, infection prevention, and control,” Idris said.
The development comes amid rising concern over the spread of Ebola in parts of Central Africa.
No fewer than 220 suspected deaths and 900 suspected cases have reportedly been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo since authorities in Kinshasa declared the outbreak on May 15.
Uganda has also confirmed five cases and one death, prompting neighbouring and high-risk countries to strengthen surveillance and containment measures.
The Federal Government said it would continue to monitor the situation closely and take necessary steps to protect Nigerians from any possible importation of the virus.
