Jide Idris, director-general (DG) of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), says the country is just 59 percent prepared for a potential Ebola outbreak.
Earlier, the NCDC said that it had strengthened disease surveillance following the recent outbreak of Ebola in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The agency said Nigeria faces a high risk of an Ebola outbreak due to the ongoing transmission of the disease in the DRC and Uganda, as well as increased cross-border movement and international travel.
Speaking on Arise TV on Monday, Idris said a recently conducted risk assessment of Nigeria’s readiness revealed some critical gaps that authorities are working to address at points of entry into the country.
He said the assessment identified vulnerabilities and improved response mechanisms against any potential importation of the virus.
“Our recent latest level of assessment puts us at about 59 percent. But that’s quite variable. You can’t be 100 percent prepared, but the essence is that we keep preparing because things change,” Idris said.
“To be frank, we are not 100 percent ready, but we are improving our readiness. This is a readiness that has to cover the whole country.”
Idris added that NCDC is “working tirelessly” in assessing states’ readiness.
“What we are doing is that we’ve assessed our situation. We sent people out to do assessments,” he said.
“We sent advisors to state commissioners to do an assessment of readiness, guiding them on what to do. Look at things like infrastructure, isolation centres, public health emergency operation centres, and what kind of stockpiles they have just in case they have these cases.”
Idris noted that the federal ministry of health has issued protocols for relevant government agencies aimed at tightening controls on international arrivals through airports.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
“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 from airlines. Those airlines that were bringing patients here.
“You can do the air traffic, and that’s why some states were categorised as high risk. Those states are where you have international airports, because that is where people come in.”
Idris also said Nigeria’s porous land borders are a significant vulnerability, noting that travellers entering by road present a major surveillance challenge.
“But the biggest one again is our 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 explained.
The NCDC DG noted that the containment of the 2014 Ebola outbreak is a lesson for the country’s current preparedness efforts.
“The year 2014 was interesting because we had never had that experience before. But we were lucky to have the experience of the WHO and the Centres for Disease Control, who actually provided guidance,” he said.
“At the start, nobody knew what the problem was, but again, we learned as we were going along.
“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.”
He added that the country is burdened by seven to eight disease outbreaks, which include cholera and Lassa fever
