Eight hundred and ninety four cases. Two hundred and four deaths. One month. Nigeria is not waiting to see if the numbers reach its own borders.
The Federal Government has launched an aggressive national preparedness campaign against Ebola Virus Disease, inaugurating a Presidential Task Force to coordinate preventive measures across the country. The move comes as the current outbreak across Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo has reached 894 confirmed cases and 204 confirmed deaths, with 74 recoveries reported in the first month since the outbreak was declared on May 15, 2026.
A Proactive Rather Than Reactive Approach
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Dr Wessam Mankoula, Acting Head of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Division at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed the regional figures during a webinar on the Ebola update. The scale of the outbreak across two neighbouring African nations has prompted Nigeria to move beyond routine surveillance toward a fully coordinated national response structure.
Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, explained that the government was building on lessons from Nigeria’s successful containment of Ebola in 2014. “What we want is a zero case, as we have now. We want to sustain that zero case record,” he stated, emphasising that the task force exists to prevent infection rather than respond to one.
Land Borders Now Get Equal Attention
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One notable shift in this response is the explicit focus on land borders, alongside the more commonly discussed airport screening measures. “Whenever people discuss preparedness for cross border diseases, the focus is usually on airports. This time, however, we are paying equal attention to land borders,” Gbajabiamila said, noting Nigeria’s significant cross border migration through informal land routes.
The Border Control Development Agency and the Nigeria Immigration Service are now formally part of the preparedness framework, alongside border communities themselves. Furthermore, governors and representatives from states hosting international airports, including Lagos, Rivers, Enugu, and the Federal Capital Territory, participated in the inauguration meeting.
The Message From the NCDC
NCDC Director General Dr Jide Idris reassured Nigerians that no Ebola infection has been recorded anywhere in the country. He reiterated that strong collaboration among federal, state, and local authorities remains the most important lesson carried forward from the 2014 containment success.
Lagos has separately activated its own Operation BioShield campaign, working alongside the new federal task force. Together, these layered efforts represent Nigeria’s most comprehensive Ebola prevention posture to date. The hope is straightforward. Keep the zero case record intact, no matter what happens across the border.
