PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats and ordered the immediate release of N10billion to fund emergency intervention.
This was disclosed on Tuesday, June 9, by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who added that the funds will strengthen the operational preparedness of the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and support critical national public health emergency response activities.
The task force will be chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, with membership drawn from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and state representatives.
Onanuga said the approval followed a stakeholder meeting convened under the chairmanship of Gbajabiamila to review Nigeria’s preparedness and develop strategies against the possible importation of Ebola, which recently resurfaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, into Nigeria.
He explained that the President directed all states hosting international airports and international border corridors, as well as relevant MDAs, to submit their plans, funding requirements and intervention needs for consideration and coordinated implementation.
The task force is to impliment additional measures, such as intensification of passenger screening at all international airports through enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control protocols; enhanced monitoring of passengers arriving through high-risk airline routes, including Air Uganda, Rwanda Air, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines; and immediate activation of referral and isolation centres at the Lagos and Abuja international airports, with other airports to follow.
Other measures include the mandatory activation of QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for passengers originating from or transiting through designated high-risk countries and disinfection of departure halls, cargoes, baggage areas and airport facilities as precautionary environmental measures.
Tinubu also directed the advisory group to consult with security, diplomatic and aviation bodies on regulating flights from affected and designated high-risk countries, designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights to enable controlled screening and isolation procedures and consider adjusting flight schedules to minimise interaction between high-risk passengers and other travellers.
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